Economic indicators for the global downturn etc are rocking the ‘system’ to the core, now more than ever we need to innovate rather than blindly continue to do what we always have done.
Businesses need to reevaluate where they are at, what capacity, scope and skills they have. Instead of running scared and waiting for the “sky is falling” syndrome to kick in, they need to come up with their own answers to the challenges that lay ahead and tackle these with dogged determination.
I guess the same can be said of governments, innovate now so they can lead the way.
A possible example is the way the Australian Government is handing out what I will call “recovery packages” allegedly a whole bunch of people took their handouts and went straight to gamble it away on poker machines… not very useful to some, but a spreading of the good will nonetheless. Innovative, hmm hardly but it was to be expected I guess.
What if the government had taken those millions and put it into “capacity building” such as training small business, training redundant workers with short sharp and to the point sessions to give them options, and not just options that lead to longer course pathways… Imagine a place where people could readily brainstorm future paths to personal and professional growth, where business ideas could be readily explored and evaluated, Where open thinking paved a way to overcome closed minded “that will never work” thinking.
Any time is a good time to innovate, now it seems we need to work on it more than ever, but let’s face bare facts, are you prepared or even trained to innovate? Chances are no… Perhaps now is the time to take matters into your own hands, to take positive action.
Think outside the square and come up with ways to turn the situation from a capitalist nightmare to a capitalists dream. 6 billion people with a dream beats 6 billion with a nightmare…
With lots of things happening in the world it makes sense to get a perspective on things, some change you are experiencing may be good, some the opposite. Here are a few things which you may find of value in changing times.
- Be positive and have a sense of optimism – So things are changing… You can say “Oh woe is me…” or you can say “Whoa! Things are changing WOO HOO!” the choice is yours, an optimistic approach generally works out for the better, it puts your “spirit” somehow into the right frame to handle and accept things.
- Change can be good – Ignore it and it can be bad too… – You need to decide fast what’s happening and what fits to your core values and beliefs, if it fits well then go for it, if it doesn’t consider taking another path.
- You have a range of skills to handle change already – You’re an adult right? You have fallen over and picked yourself up from an early age, some of us may seem to fall over more often, so some of us may have more skills to deal with the situation. Reflect and remember all those things you have overcome, were you stronger at the end of it? Chances are yes… Tally up the skills you have, now put them into action.
- Not letting excuses and negative emotions stop you – Feel the fear and do it anyway can be useful at times, and this may be one of them. Ask yourself what are my excuses and negative emotions around this issue and what would I prefer them to be? Go on write them down so you can tackle them HEAD ON.
- The more you resist change, the more things may not happen how you want – I am not saying this is always the case but often it seems this way, and have you ever met someone that said “I should have done this earlier?” uh huh… and where would you prefer to be, starting out early or late? And ask this was anything I resisted in a change way in the past ever really that bad?
- What stories are you telling yourself? – Your self-talk is the one thing, which might just be holding you back, check out No: 4 again… is it your self-talk trying to “protect you?” from what? The unknown? Is it really unknown? Or is your self-talk wanting to “set you free” and explore everything this new change may bring…
- Deeper meaning, is it part of that? – Some of you will have a faith, which may suggest you are part of a bigger plan, some of you may have figured it out for yourself… Some of you look at the chaos and challenges and say meaning is impossible, check out No:1 again and ask “Which do I want to be part of, a bigger plan or not, Chances are your “gods” (or demons…) will make sure it happens for you the way you want.
- Get a support team – Ask who can help me, who will understand? Then take a leap of faith to get them on board, they might be an email contact, a person to call on the phone, a buddy you can catch up with live. Whoever and however, carefully consider getting a team, a rock solid positive team of people who can hold you to the standard you want to be held to.
- Create a plan and take action – If you have not started jotting down things from the above list already I would be surprised. I care not for what sort of plan it is, but write it down! Perhaps keep a plan journal, consider reading your key plan points daily, or a wall plan, gather photo’s and collage a new you lifestyle plan on a wall chart… Keep it simple, real and vibrant. It’s your life, live it the right way, the way that makes the most sense to you. Oh and yes, take action, all the best thoughts in the world are worthless without action.
The economy is in turmoil, your staff are jittery, the sales forecasts are still okay and you actually need more staff, we live in interesting times! But to recruit takes up precious time and resources, the position you have in mind is just not quite up to using the recruitment company so you want try a more creative approach, after all the standard methods still have some quirks, issues and challenges.
You get some heads together and decide to go for it, but what might be a way to cut back on the sheer volume the role might attract from job seekers? Consider a different approach, one where you let the candidates sort themselves more before you get to them.
- The role and the job – You probably have a fairly good idea of the responsibilities the new employee will undertake, logical task skills are one thing, however knowing the type of personality which will fit with the role, the team and the company is another. Visualise the right type of person, how they act, hold themselves and perform, now go and find that person.
- The advert – Normally adverts cost a bunch, but if you use the advert wisely (as a marketing tool) then you can cut back the cost, stop the waffle about the company etc and just give them an alluring headline.
- The web edge - It’s not new to have a recruitment section on your website, but as a filtering device it might be. Use the advert to send people to the web page, there you can set up a page relatively cost effectively and alter it to suit. Ask the big questions after telling them the basics about the job and remuneration. Also outline the process in steps so they have an idea of what’s happening.
- Keep your resume – They are usually a few pages, a lot of scanning has to take place etc… what a hassle, I would rather scan a single page than a whole heap. Therefore ask the applicant to create a one page response to a few questions citing examples of how they did things in set situations.
- Call them – From the process above you now have a bunch of one page responses from candidates. Now you formulate a quick phone interview process, you ring and tell them you want some short responses to assist you in going further… it might go something like this… “Give me a snapshot of your resume, e.g. a few places you have worked and achievements, you have 1 minute” time them and see what happens, if they are engrossing in a positive way you can decide to let them chat on or stop them. You could even make it 30 seconds. Add a few questions to delve deeper on some key issues (team work and communication might be a start.) Now make sure you can short list from this bunch and let the really no goers know via email.
- Short list – The good ones are left, you could pick a few and re call them and ask more questions, you could invite them to a group session (five people in a room for 1/2 an hr is cheaper time wise than five 1/2 hour sessions at separate interviews.) Or you could ask them to create another 1 page response, or even send in their resume… You could also just interview them, either way go with your heart on who stands out from the crowd first and then go for the logical fit later.
This type of process can be useful for many roles, it makes it easier to sort the main players out and gives you the chance to get through the candidates fast. Happy hunting!
Tags: employee recruitment, hr leadership, recruitment
