Try A Simple Thank You

So when did common courtesy become so uncommon? You just finished the annual review (employer or employee), bonuses and salary adjustments will be in effect by March 15. The company had a good year and the “lift” you see or feel will last for a while – if you’re lucky all the way to May 1. So why is turnover trending upward before June 30?

Limited recognition is often cited as the most common reason for leaving an employer. Not in your standard exit interview – too much “feeling” to discuss in that setting. People feel undervalued and underappreciated and it’s not because of your salary and benefits. Competitive salary and benefits are a “ right” each employee expects. The key to retention and performance is consistent recognition of a job well done. Many of you are now thinking “this is going to get expensive”, but it doesn’t have to! Some of you are also thinking “this is common sense”. I agree, but common sense is all too uncommon and far from common practice!

The best recognition programs recognize real and desired performance and result in frequent recognition awards. When your employee handles a particularly difficult situation especially well – recognize it now. Follow the Golden Rule – think how you would like to be treated in that moment and you will understand the importance of the seemingly simple, but often forgotten, sincere thanks for a job well done.

This sounds easy, so why don’t we do it? Give me some practical advice you say? Here’s an easy one. We all have a “to do list”, whether on a post it note or your Evernote app (I love this app). Everyone in your organization who has even a single employee reporting to them (directly or indirectly) should put their reporting employee’s names on that “to do list”. Cross the employee’s name off the list each week only when you have found a genuine reason to recognize their positive performance. Thanking people in person too “touchy” for you? Write them a note – yes handwritten, this is supposed to be your personal touch, remember? When others wrote notes of thanks, congratulations or encouragement to me they always found their way to a file I still maintain. I believe I still have every note I ever received from a parent or child for coaching a team or leading a Cub Scout adventure. My mother had every sympathy card her family received when my Uncle Bill Dierker was killed over Leyte Island in the Philippines on November 1, 1944.

Follow this practice for three months and it will be a hard habit to break – but if you’re anything like me, please keep the list, it works!

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From My Perspective – I’m Impressed!

January was a great to start to the 2024 Business Year. Excellent candidates are always hard to find and the “candidate driven” market for talented professionals continues. This business has never been easy but with the likelihood of a recession fading in the rearview mirror, I have found experienced and talented professionals are more open to listening to the opportunities our firm is representing.

The reason I’m Impressed? Regardless of tenure, it has been proven again the really talented professional will always do their homework. Certainly before they decide whether they want to be presented to our client, but once they agree to meet that client their professionalism really kicks in. Early career or senior executive, they research the company on their own using multiple sources. One young candidate even listened to my client’s archived interviews with a local radio station. Beyond their research, these same talented professionals are highly interested in what we can share regarding our client and also in our sharing our expertise on how to be best prepared for each interview.

What has your experience been if you are interviewing talented professionals? Are those you choose to pursue most often those who are best prepared for each interview?

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From My Perspective – New Year’s Resolutions – Whiffed One for 2023

I was committed to writing more in 2023. Yes, I did mail a birthday card with a heartfelt note to each of my 8 living siblings and a couple of hand-written letters to friends. However, this is my first “From My Perspective” since late 2022 so I’m changing from a month-end deadline to the first Thursday of the month. We’ll see how long that works but something had to change!

One thing I have done is stay in touch with family and friends. Sharing pictures via text and WhatsApp of my granddaughter who is now nearly 18 months old, checking in with friends (often by text) about their health or the health of their parents and family members. My old school self often felt guilty about not being more personal and calling but maybe , just maybe, a “meandering” call with me isn’t what someone needed that day. Maybe it matters to them to know they were thought of.

Today, Thursday January 4, 2024 marks the 6th anniversary of losing a close friend. Tom Regensburger was a classic all-around good guy. Many of his friends and family used Tom’s passing to commit to staying in better touch with their friends and family. Don’t wait for grief to motivate you – commit to reaching out to those you care about. Electronically or personally doesn’t matter – just get started and see where it leads.

Now is always the right time to recommit to good habits. I’m recommitting to New Year’s Resolutions. I hope your New Year’s Resolutions are still intact but if not, I’m encouraging you to recommit to yours.

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Labor Day – Service & Gratitude

Labor Day – Service & Gratitude

“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” One of my favorite quotes from Teddy Roosevelt. How often do we reflect on how others providing excellent service positively impacts our lives? How important also that they follow the maxim I first heard from Grandma Dierker – “If you don’t have time to do it right when will you have time to do it over?” I had two such opportunities to reflect based on events that happened within 24 hours.

We left for the hospital as soon as my daughter was admitted expecting our now first grandchild – Woo Hoo! A healthy baby girl born July 8, 2022. It was supposed to be an uneventful 11 hour drive to North Carolina. That was before a right rear tire puncture on I-75 just north of Williamsburg, KY. AAA said it would be 90 minutes before help would arrive – did I mention it was pouring rain. Less than 10 minutes later the driver from Bolton’s Towing & Repair in Corbin, KY pulls up. An incredibly friendly gentleman, especially considering the weather, has the spare on and we’re driving again in less than 20 minutes. Sorry I didn’t get his name but that was incredible service when we needed it most.

We stayed overnight in Clinton, TN to be near the Walmart Auto Center when they opened the next morning. This one didn’t go our way – none of that tire in stock. After calling a number of shops I reach Jimmy of Matlock Tire Service & Auto Repair at their West Knoxville location. He assures me they have the tire in stock and he’ll keep a bay open and a tire technician at the ready so we can get on our way. We arrive a little more than 30 minutes later and I’m thinking – “oh sure they’ll have a bay ready!” I turn over the keys and settle into one of the nicest waiting areas (seriously well-appointed with free coffee, bottled water and a fast wi-fi connection) thinking this is going to be a while. I hadn’t finished my first coffee and my wife and younger daughter had only just returned from the coffee shop next door when I’m told the car is ready. What? They did exactly what they promised!

We arrived to meet our granddaughter on the day she was born and I have Bolton’s of Corbin and Matlock Tire of West Knoxville to thank for that. Their employees work hard at being their best every day and their service positively impacts people like our family every day. Remember to thank the person who helps you have a better day – even if it is “just their job.”

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Memorial Day and Benefits from Volunteering

Excerpt from Posthumous Award of Army Air Medal to First Lt. William C. Dierker, the older brother of my mom, Betty (Dierker) Hagerty: “Ordered to make an observation flight on 1st of November 1944, the plane piloted by Lt. Dierker, on taking off from the field, was attacked by Japanese “Tonys” and forced into a cocoanut grove, resulting in a crash where he was fatally injured.”

An article from the May 1945 issue of the Marine Corps magazine Leatherneck mentioned my Uncle Bill and this encounter in an article citing the bravery of the Marine observers and Army pilots of these flights over the front lines and often deep into enemy held territory. The mention closed with “Three Marines from a passing truck convoy braved a second strafing attack to cut the fliers from the wreckage, but death beat an ambulance to the side of the victims.”

The volunteering part you ask? I’ve had the pleasure of being a board member since 2004 at St. Margaret Hall, A Carmelite Sisters sponsored long term care facility. My father, Bob Hagerty (WWII veteran of the 712th Tank Battalion and Korean War veteran tank commander), was lovingly cared for by the Sisters and staff during the final months of his life prior to passing February 16, 2002. I’ve had the chance to meet so many wonderful residents and have so many meaningful encounters that convince me the rewards of volunteering far outweigh the “sacrifice.” I knew very few of my Mom’s childhood friends and she really never spoke at all about losing her beloved brother Bill. One afternoon at St. Margaret Hall I encountered a new resident Pat (Grannen) Jacobs and learned she had grown up across the street from my mother in Norwood. It still makes me shiver to recall her saying – “I hope you won’t mind me mentioning this, but I still remember looking out our front window when the sedan with the Army Officer and a Chaplain arrived to tell your grandparents that their son had been killed-in-action over the Philippine Islands. Your mother was several years older than me but always so kind to us younger girls and it hurt me to know how sad she must have been.”

I believe one of the best ways we can honor our veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice is to continue to give of ourselves to our own community in whatever way we find most meaningful.

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Mom-isms

I recently had a great conversation with a new connection at an excellent client. Her LinkedIn profile mentioned she is a lover of great quotes. Interestingly enough, so am I. She asked me for a couple of favorites and I opened my Evernote app to share one from Teddy Roosevelt and one from Jeff Immelt. I then noticed on my desk the takeaway from my Mom’s funeral.

On the reverse of her photo were several classics we refer to as “Our Mom-isms.” Here are several that have definite business application:

* If you don’t listen you have to feel.

* If you don’t do it right the first time, when will you have time to do it over.

* If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

Then there are some personal favorites:

About her never artificially colored hair – “It’s platinum blonde.”

And from the woman who usually had a cup of black coffee or an iced tea (heavy sugar and lemon) in her hand – “Water is for taking a bath, not drinking.”

A belated Happy Mother’s Day and here’s hoping you have as many fond memories and lessons learned from your mother as we have from ours!

The Great Resignation Is Over!

It is from where we sit! Great prospects have always been difficult to find and then difficult to connect with. Anyone who actively recruits talent can attest to the unanswered LinkedIn InMails and Connection Requests, the emails which show as opened in your statistics but never a response. Perhaps you even have a cell number but can’t get a text message response or a return call.

The real signal of The Great Resignation being over is the number of prospects who will listen to our great presentation (ours are always great of course) but decline to pursue it beyond that point. They highlight how well their current employer is taking care of them – hybrid work options, strong annual salary increase, better than average bonus and a genuine concern for their career development are just some of the specifics they mention.

Some are willing to sit down and talk with us and learn more about the opportunity with our client. If we’ve begun to build some reciprocal trust and can say there is the real potential for an excellent match many are willing to become a “candidate” and meet with our clients. If you’ve armed your recruiters (internal or external) with enough information about the role and trust they are effectively screening candidates then anyone involved in the interview has to be prepared to sell the opportunity and not just be another level of screening.

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Build Loyalty, Early!

Concerned about turnover? Of course you are, just like everyone else. Three examples I’ve encountered in the last 90 days show how some companies build loyalty early, when it really matters.

1) A new employee wants to take a week off, without pay, between finishing with their current employer and starting with the new one. The following week is a short week due to a holiday so the new employer would prefer that not be the starting week. Two weeks off without pay wasn’t really in the new employee’s plans. The employer’s solution – the new employee can have off both weeks, with pay!

2) A new employee is several weeks into training with a new employer when they begin experiencing serious complications from a previous Covid 19 infection. 10+ weeks later they are cleared to return to work. Guess what – never missed a paycheck from the new employer.

3) First week in their new role and a financial executive collapses from an undiagnosed pulmonary condition and spends several days in the hospital. The call from the owner of the firm isn’t to ask when he can return, instead he assures the new employee his recovery is most important and assures him his paychecks will continue and his position will be there when he returns.

These individuals took my call about a new opportunity but made it clear (very quickly I might add) they were interested only in seeing if they could help me with a referral. You want to build loyalty and reduce the likelihood of turnover? The time is now, before it appears your concerns are motivated by a recent rash of resignations.

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Not Ghosted!

Let’s begin the new year on a positive note! It is a candidate advantage market and we’ve all heard about employers, and worse yet us recruiters, being ghosted by candidates. Many, including me at times, are prone to hang it on any generation younger than us. Can’t you just hear your parents “I can’t believe they listen to that music!” I’m still listening to The Who but the line from “My Generation“ “Hope I die before I get old” means I’ll keep redefining “old.”

How about this thoughtful response from an early millennial?

Bill, This certainly sounds like a good opportunity, but I don’t think it is right for me. The compensation would not be a significant raise for me and the commute is also a negative. At this point in my career I have committed a significant amount of time at my current employer and gained a level of respect among management. For all these reasons I am going to pass on pursuing this opportunity. Thank you for thinking of me and reaching out.

An excerpt from my response:

Thanks for considering. While I’m disappointed we won’t be pursuing this together I appreciate the way you have considered this opportunity relative to your continued opportunity with your current employer.

Wow, common personal/professional courtesy between an early millennial and a late boomer. It just isn’t that hard. I’ll try and improve mine in 2022. How about you?

Been Ghosted Lately?

I used to think it was just recruiters who were “ghosted” on a regular basis but sadly, not so! Here was a response to my April 2021 post regarding employee referrals and the need to acknowledge them with the employee and the referred candidate: “communication of any sort to any candidate is becoming a rare thing these days… Blows me away…my employer (national company 60,000+ employees) is horrible about keeping any candidate informed about their progress (or lack thereof) in the hiring process. It gets worse all the time. What has happened to common courtesy?? Sad.”

It isn’t just employers who ghost either. Candidates do it also. Here was my recent experience (names changed to protect the guilty): John is insistent I must meet him before deciding whether to present him to Bill the hiring manager for an interview. I meet him and appreciate his enthusiasm for the role and agree to encourage Bill to interview him. After the Zoom interview Bill reports: “quite possibly the worst interview I’ve ever had, one and two word answers to questions meant to spark discussion. It continued even after I mentioned I really needed him to expand his answers a little more.” You guessed it, John hasn’t returned my three phone calls or two texts and an email. I’m pretty certain my client Bill will always remember the name and not ever interview John in the future. I am completely certain I’ll remember the name and won’t be representing John in the future.

Employers and candidates – I’d love to hear your experiences and especially what employers are doing to improve the candidate experience.