Tell it like it is

One thing that employers hate is the unabashed lying that sometimes goes on in CV’s. Or maybe I should call it fabrication. It ends up wasting everyone’s time when it is found out. Most of the time it is found out well before someone is employed. Sometimes it isn’t.

Likewise, potential employees don’t like it when employers fabricate how grand and best fit the job is. This fabrication of the job description leads to disappointment down the track for all as well. In fact I would go even so far to say that it is the start of a dissatisfying spiral for employer and employee alike.

I had a chance to see this in action recently. The employer had talked up an aspect of the business that was new and exciting. The (potential) employee got excited at the prospect of working within this new area. It wasn’t until a third party provided a reality check on what the job was actually about that put a halt to this mis-communication.

What would have happened should this person been employed.

1) The employee would have become disillusioned because the job wasn’t what they thought it was.

2) The employer would become frustrated because the employee was always after a different ball

3) Management in the process would become annoyed because they had to drive the employee to focus on the standard (boring) stuff.

4) The employee would leave or be sacked after a very short tenure and the whole process would start again.

What’s the message here? Make sure you are clear up front what the job description is. Don’t get carried away talking up the cool stuff if it isn’t what is real. Ultimately it costs a lot to hire someone new. Don’t waste it.

Record low unemployment in New Zealand

The pinch for employers is growing by the month or so it appears. With record unemployment levels hitting 3.4% in the month of December. Why is this happening? Why is it that so many employers from every industry finding the employee resource so thin?

The answer I believe is simple. Because many families can no longer survive on a single income, the mother also has to go out to work. This is substantially increasing the number of people in the workforce. Wages no longer cover standard living in New Zealand. This is also why so many New Zealander’s are heading across to Australia.

Further proof of the idea that wages are no longer matching costs is a rare comment by the Finance Minister Michael Cullen. Stating to the effect that employers should review wages. Along with talks of tax cuts (No surprises why that is being discussed).

Anyway the guts of all this is that …
1) More people are going to continue to move to Australia (the grass is always greener on the other side right).

2) Wages will go up as the high skilled demand more from their employers or leave for better conditions (supply and demand).

3) As a result of higher wages, prices will rise (got to cover the costs of delivering the product or service)

4) Inflation will go up and hopefully tax will come down (if we are lucky).

5) More families will feel the pinch and the need to send the “Mum” out to work just to make ends meet (this is the saddest part of the whole scenario)

Even some of the big companies are struggling

This article may be the beginning of the end for Yahoo. It is definitely not winning against the giant google. You have to wonder what the loss of 1000 jobs will do to the remaining employee’s morale.

And it may be my brain but with such a dramatic cut in resourcing you have to wonder what on earth were the 1000 employees doing that doesn’t need to be done now? Either they have been wasting space for along time, or Yahoo’s productivity will slow.

How not to deliver the”you are now redundant” message

This article in computerworld I think is a good example on how not to manage the whole process of outsourcing and the following redundancy that will inevitably take place. Apparently these people were told by video link even though senior management staff were in the building. The story portrays a really badly managed process.

It isn’t just the final video link announcement that was off colour, but also the lies and sneaky back handling that appears to have gone on well before the final blow. There are obviously things that are sensitive to an industry or company that cannot be talked about. But in general even if outsourcing is seriously on the cards you still want to maintain a good will with your employees.

This article highlights very clearly the delicate nature of the outsourcing beast. All care should be taken. You never know what can happen if you manage the transition badly. Someone may blog or write about you.

A bad rap for the company Humanware. And good luck to their employees.