Recruit, Inspire & Retain |
April 2006 |
|
Ideas for "Marketing" and Providing "Customer Service" to Current and Potential Employees |
|
TRAINING
SYSTEMS,
INC.
Great Training for Great Employees |
Visit our website,
www.trainingsys.com
|
| ABOUT US | BOOKS & FUN STUFF |
|
COOL STUFF IN THIS ISSUE! |
|
||||
More than 100 already designed learning
methods ranging from |
READERS! If you find an article worthy of Recruit, Inspire & Retain, please send it (with a note telling us where you found it) |
| Remember, Recruit, Inspire & Retain back issues are available at http://www.trainingsys.com/rir/index.htm. |
|
If this was forwarded to you, get your own copy FREE! |
|
|
51% of New Hires Culled From Internet Sources
Employers turn to the Internet as their major hiring source, beating out newspaper classifieds and other traditional sources, according to a study carried out for technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
The study found that 51% of new hires were developed from Internet sources. Of that 51%, the highest quality candidates apparently came from employers' own corporate web sites and from employee referrals.
 Newspaper
classified ads, traditionally a major source of employment
hiring, were the source of just 5% of new hires, the study
found. |
One of the lead authors said the data provided “clear evidence that the Internet has transformed the way American employers attract and hire employees.”
Furthermore, “responses indicated that employers anticipate directing a greater proportion of applicants through their own corporate web sites rather than any other online source in the year to come,” wrote Rich Cober, Booz Allen Hamilton team lead on the research report in statement.
The study broke down Internet hiring practices as follows:
21% corporate employment web sites
15% general job boards
6% niche job boards
5% social network web sites
4% commercial resume databases
The study, which was released 2/06, was conducted by the DirectEmployers Association, a non-profit consortium of more than 200 U.S. employers.
From Information Week, 2/06.
|
Get more tips on recruiting great employees from TRAINING SYSTEMS. |
 Have
a recruitment, inspiration, training, or retention idea or question? Ask by
clicking the question mark, and we’ll post your idea or question (and the
answer) in Answers & Ideas
on Recruiting, Inspiring, Training, & Retaining Great Employees at
http://www.trainingsys.com. |
Performance Eval Quotes — The Really Great Ones
For everyone who has ever had a performance evaluation - just remember, it could have been worse. These are actual quotes taken from employee performance evaluations.
"Since my last report, this employee has reached rock-bottom and has
started to dig."
"One neuron short of a synapse."
"This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts the better."
"Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all
together."
"A gross ignoramus - 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus."
"He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."
"Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled."
"This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a
definite won't be."
"Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat
in a trap."
"When he opens his mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet."
"This young lady has delusions of adequacy."
"He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to
achieve them."
"This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."
"He's been working with glue too much."
"He would argue with a signpost."
"He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room."
"When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."
"If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he's the other
one."
"A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on."
"A prime candidate for natural de-selection."
"Donated his brain to science before he was done using it."
"Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't
coming."
"He's got two brains cells, one is lost and the other is out’ looking
for it."
"If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week."
"If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change."
"If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean."
"It's hard to believe he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm."
"Takes him 2 hours to watch 60-minutes."
"The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
**TOOL
BOX**
|
| * |
Tabitha Hoppman, Berkshire Systems
Group, Inc., upon winning a free year’s subscription to
MemCards, wrote, " Thank you very much. I enjoy your monthly
newsletters and always share the Special Days with my friends at
work." |
| * |
Cassandra Lane, calling to
buy more copies of Creating Highly Interactive Training
Quickly & Effectively, said: "I borrowed it from a
colleague and used it so much, including reading while on my
exercise bike, that it’s too dog-eared to return! It’s been
instrumental in helping me think about Design, because I started as
a Facilitator." |
| * |
The Atlanta Chapter of ASTD
(America Society for Training and Development) is publishing
"Delivering Dynamic Presentations", by
TRAINING SYSTEMS,
INC.
President, Carolyn B. Thompson, in their monthly newsletter. |
| * | U.S. News & World Report’s April 3, 2006 edition has an article quoting Carolyn B. Thompson, President of TRAINING SYSTEMS, INC. The issue is on newsstands now. The article is about President Bush, and mentions her book, The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush: 10 Common Sense Lessons from the Commander-in-Chief. |
Burnout — Hate the Term/Love the Term?
There’s more written these days about the dislike of the term "burnout"
than there is doing something about it, for ourselves or our staff. Whatever you call
that time, approaching or upon us, when people’s previously intelligent
brains freeze so no intelligent words or actions result, something must be
done.
To Do:
get rid
of the things causing "burnout"
get rid
of the obstacles to getting rid of the things causing it
go around the obstacles to getting rid of "burnout"
work through the things causing "burnout"
Not sure if you or your staff are burned out?
|
Top 10 Signs of Burnout (serious) |
|
10. You’re so tired, you now answer the phone with just "Hell."t;t; 9. Your friends call to ask how you’ve been, and you immediately scream, "Get off my back!" 8. Your garbage can IS your "In" box. 7. You wake up to discover your bed is on fire, but go back to sleep because you just don’t care. 6. You have so much on your mind, you’ve forgotten how to LOGON. 5. Visions of the upcoming weekend help you make it through Monday. 4. You don’t set your alarm anymore because you know the pager will go off before the alarm does. 3. You leave for a party and instinctively bring your ID badge. 2. Your DayTimer/WorkPlanner/Palm Pilot exploded a week ago. |
And the number 1 sign you are burned out because of work
1. You think about how relaxing it would be if you were in jail right
now.
More Signs of Burnout (These Ones Are Serious)
 Being on the verge of tears or crying a lotOverreacting to minor nuisancesLosing interest in workWithdrawing from social contactsIncreasing use of alcohol or stimulantsIncreasing use of medications for sleeplessness,
anxiety or depression Inability to relaxScattered thinkingFeeling increasingly resentful |
Being increasingly "short tempered"Feeling helpless or hopelessFeeling constantly exhaustedDecrease in productivityChange in eating patternsChange in sleep patternsGetting sick more oftenIncreasing thoughts of death |
From Deb Hart, RN, at The AATH Conference
|
Get more tips on inspiring great employees from TRAINING SYSTEMS. |
**TOOL BOX**
|
Building Workforce Excellence Through Individuals & Teams
Train to Strengths — high-performance work groups recognize that no one can be good at everything, so they give employees the opportunities to play to their strengths. Training shows that companies value learning and that effective training helps people develop their strengths. That offers a greater payoff than training that tries to turn weaknesses into strengths.
|
|
IDBI Bank’s Executive Director, O.V. Bundellu,
says, "Many people approach IDBI for jobs, because there is
extensive training." The bank's Jawaharlal Nehru Institute
for Development Banking, located in Hyderabad, trains
company executives in finance and development. It also
allows IDBI bankers to share their knowledge with their
counterparts in nations that are behind India in the
industrial development process. But that is not the only
training opportunity available to bank staffers. "We run a
lot of training programs on our intranet, on a self-service
basis," Bundellu says. This allows for ongoing training and
testing in a range of competencies and creates a database of
qualified employees to use for future promotion and
placement opportunities. |
|
|
Det Norske Varitas, a risk management company, also uses extensive training to keep its staff sharp. In addition to conducting training in the business skills needed to meet customer needs, it trains managers on how to meet their internal obligations. One such offering is a three-day course in managing individual performance, required of all line managers. It covers effective reviewing, coaching, and goal setting. When managers conduct reviews, they place the information in the company's PeopleSoft Human Capital Management System from Oracle. That way there is a consistent record that stays with the employees no matter what offices they may be sent to, making it easier for their new managers to see where those employees fit in and what their goals are. |
|
Characteristics of High-Performance Work Groups
Susan Lucia Annunzio is the author of Contagious Success, a study of high-performing work groups. She has identified three key characteristics of such work groups: They adapt to the changing economic environment; are customer oriented, whether the customer is internal or external; and know how to manage the internal corporate environment. She says that companies that want to change their workplace need to work counter to conventional wisdom:
The leader protects the group from company interference. Productivity plus innovation drives high performance. It's the environment, not the leader. It's the work group, not the individual. There is room to grow. Your employees can solve your problems. The "dumb" idea may be your next paradigm shift. Workers need more information, not less. Build it, and they will come ... and stay. |
Remember, though, that all the emphasis on training is of no use if the employees are not given the freedom to do their jobs. If smart people are treated like they are smart, they will rise to the occasion. The structure has to stay behind the scenes, so that employees can concentrate on the business at hand. Knowledge workers want an assignment, a deadline, and a budget. Then they want and need to be freed up to do their job.
Excerpts from Profit, 2/06 article
|
Get more tips on training great employees from TRAINING SYSTEMS. |
**TOOL BOX**
|
|||||||||||||
Retain Like “The Fortune Top 100 Companies to Work For”
You can search around the world today for a company that isn’t concerned about employee retention, but they’re few & far between! If you’re one of those "concerned", don’t just be concerned, take action to retain. The ideas for action and their results are everywhere. Take The Fortune Top 100 Companies to Work For . . . OK, just take the Top 10:
|
Rank |
Company Name |
What’s Makes It So Great? |
|
1 |
Genentech |
What's better than being a valued member of a cancer-fighting team? Having a great time while you're at work. (It doesn't hurt that 95% of workers are shareholders - and they've benefited handsomely from the soaring stock.) |
|
2 |
Wegmans Food Markets |
Work really is a family affair at this privately held grocery chain. Before it opened two new stores last year, Wegmans chartered jets to fly all new full-timers to Rochester to be welcomed by CEO Danny Wegman. |
|
3 |
Valero Energy |
When disaster strikes, this team pulls together. After hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit, Valero dispatched semis filled with supplies, set up temporary housing for employees, fed volunteers - and donated $1 million to the Red Cross. |
|
4 |
Griffin Hospital |
Money isn't everything. Despite pay scales 5% to 7% lower than hospitals in its area, Griffin received 5,100 applications for a range of 160 open positions in 2005, largely due to its top-notch reputation for patient care. |
|
5 |
W. L. Gore & Associates |
To encourage innovation at the maker of Gore-Tex fabrics, Elixir guitar strings, and Glide dental floss, there are no bosses, no job titles, no organization charts, just sponsors, team members, and leaders. |
|
6 |
Container Store |
At this storage retailer, even part-timers can receive bonuses, and drivers are rewarded for long service and safe driving records. In 2004 one driver took home $5,000 for ten years of perfect driving. |
|
7 |
Vision Service Plan |
Ever wonder if your boss could handle your job? At this not-for-profit eye-care-insurance firm, managers get into the trenches and work rank-and-file jobs on annual In Touch Day. Plus monthly cake day celebrates employee birthdays. |
|
8 |
J. M. Smucker |
This 109-year old jam and food company has a family feeling that's still sweet. Two brothers, Tim and Richard Smucker, are at the helm. And employees interview job applicants to make sure future colleagues will fit the culture. |
|
9 |
Recreational Equipment |
A shared passion for roughing it unites employees with consumers at this outdoor-goods maker and retailer, which regularly hosts environmental-service projects. Says one worker: "REI is a way of life." |
|
10 |
S. C. Johnson |
They just won't budge. The family-owned consumer-products manufacturer has a devoted workforce, witnessed by an incredibly low turnover rate of 2%. Part of the reason: profit-sharing that added 19% to pay last year. |
Remember, though, retention of good employees is imperative, retention of not so great isn’t. We need to recognize that it does us no good to retain workers who are just going through the motions. If you’ve coached and you’ve trained, but nothing changes, it’s time to help them find a job outside your organization that fits them. If you keep them instead, you’ll have some employees with minimally acceptable work and this will spill over into the rest of your staff.
Let TRAINING SYSTEMS, INC. know if you need ideas on either retaining great employees or helping not so great ones find another job. Email us.
|
Get more tips on retaining great employees from TRAINING SYSTEMS. |
**TOOL BOX**
|
|
FUN DAYS TO CELEBRATE/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCES/WAYS TO VOLUNTEER & GIVE |
APRIL SPECIAL DAYS
April is...
Multicultural Communications Month
| April 23-29 | – |
Administrative Professionals Week, Volunteer
Week, & Karaoke Week (volunteer to take an administrative professional out to a Karaoke place) |
| April 5 | – | Thank Your School Librarian Day |
| April 6 | – | Caramel Popcorn Day, International Fun at Work Day, & International Special Librarian’s Day (bring caramel popcorn to your favorite librarian, go on the Internet & read Recruit, Inspire & Retain together!) |
| April 7 | – | World Health Day |
| April 12 | – | Look Up At The Sky Day |
| April 15 | – | Fast Food Day |
| April 17 | – | Cheeseball Day & Nosy Neighbor Appreciation Day (bring your nosiest neighbor a cheeseball and tell her all about your day) |
| April 19 | – | Cow Chip Day (not touching this one!) |
| April 22 | – | Hot Dog Day & Jelly Bean Day (and honorary Alka-Seltzer Day) |
| – | Cherry Cheesecake Day & Shakespeare’s Birthday (did William indulge in cherry cheesecake?) | |
| April 23 | – | Cherry Cheesecake Day & Shakespeare’s Birthday (did William indulge in cherry cheesecake?) |
| April 26 | – | Administrative Professionals Day, Pretzel Day, & International Guide Dog Day (whew!) |
| April 28 | – | Child Care Professional Day |
| April 30 | – | Oatmeal Cookie Day & Hairstylist Day |
Email TRAINING SYSTEMS, INC. for ideas on how to celebrate any of these days.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCES
April 6-11, 2006
International Performance Improvement Conference, Adams Mark Hotel,
Dallas, TX,
April 9-12, 2006
International Association for Human Resource Information Management 2006
Conference, Washington, D.C.,
April 10-12, 2006
Dave Meier’s 3-day Accelerated Learning Training Methods Workshop,
Atlanta, GA,
April 18-21, 2006
15th Annual Association of Australian Career Counselors (AACC)
Conference, Sydney, Australia,
April 23-26, 2006
Strategic Leadership for Women in Human Resources, Simmons School of
Management, Boston, MA,
April 24-28, 2006
Leadership Development for HR Professionals, CCL campus, Colorado
Springs, CO,
April 27-28, 2006
2006 LearnShare Summit Series, Developing High Potentials: Meeting the
Talent Challenge, Cleveland, OH,
May 7-10, 2006
American Society for Training and Development Conference, Dallas, TX,
May 18-21, 2006
National Multicultural Institute 21st Annual Conference,
Bethesday, MD, email:
May 28-31, 2006
International Personnel Management Association Canada 2006 National
Training Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada,
June 11-14, 2006
Training Director’s Forum, Palm Springs, CA,
June 14-17, 2006
European Distance and E Learning Network 2006 Annual Conference,
Vienna, Austria,
June 22-23, 2006
Accelerated Learning Advanced Design Class, Lake Geneva, WI,
June 25-28, 2006
SHRM's 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Washington Convention
Center,
Washington, DC,
July 7-9, 2006
National Career Development Association 2006 Conference, Chicago, IL,
1-866-FOR-NCDA
July 26-30, 2006
WorldFuture 2006: Creating Global Strategies for Humanity’s Future,
Sheraton Centre Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
July 28-30, 2006
Annual Conference of the World Future Society, Sheraton Centre
Toronto Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
Enter the 2006 ASAE Associations Advance America Awards!
May 2, 2006 is the deadline for programs conducted between January
2006 and April 2006
For details on eligibility and award categories, go to
WAYS TO VOLUNTEER & GIVE
Global Volunteers (
You can:
select by type of work projectselect by country and dateselect by service program conditionsselect by cost
Donate old Suits
Check with your local Dress Barn. Some have programs to help unfortunate women get jobs by supplying them with business suits people have donated. Plus, they offer the donator a 10% off coupon for any purchase. Give a little, get a little!
RECYCLING
Responsibly Dispose of Your Old Electronics
Recycle PCs, cell phones, printers, CDs
diskettes, etc. with GreenDisk. For $29.95, they send a 70-pound-capacity
box. When it’s full, you download postage from their website and ship it
back. Your "junk" then goes to workshops for the disabled and are
refurbished.
http://www.greendisk.com
Donate PCs to National Cristina Foundation,
Recycle PCs and other computer products at
Hewlett Packard and Dell. See their websites for details.
Find local Electronics recyclers at
http://www.earth911.org
and
http://www.ebay.com/rethink
WWW.TRAININGSYS.COM
Get FREE access to great recruiting, inspiring, training & retaining tips,
ideas & resources where you can:
* Download articles for your newsletter!!!
*
Use free online assessments!
* Purchase books, tapes & fun
incentives to help you & your employees be the best!
*
Get new tips each month on Recruiting, Inspiring, Training, & Retaining
great employees!
*Have a recruitment, inspiration, training, or retention idea or question?
Send Email,
and we’ll post your idea or question (and the answer) in Answers & Ideas on
Recruiting, Inspiring, Training, & Retaining Great Employees at
http://www.trainingsys.com
*
Click on links to great managing and training websites!
*
Purchase our famous inspirational quote posters!
*
Get answers to your employee recruiting, inspiring, retaining, & training
questions from our experts!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Copyright 2006 TRAINING SYSTEMS, INC. All rights reserved.
**FORWARD RECRUIT, INSPIRE & RETAIN TO OTHERS
Remember, you can get issues you missed at our Website
http://www.trainingsys.com/rir/index.htm. For older (pre-1997) issues,
call 800-469-3560 or send an Email.
**ARTICLE REPRINTS FOR RECRUIT, INSPIRE & RETAIN
An ideal way to introduce new ideas or stimulate learning with the
employees in your organization.
Article reprints can also serve as a powerful promotional or sales tool -
include them with your
brochures, newsletters & media kits. For complete information on article
reprints or copyright
permission, call 1-800-469-3560 or
Email.
**YOU HAVE UNIQUE, VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE FOR OTHERS
UNSUBSCRIBE - send blank Email to:
leave-rir@trainingsys.com Change your
Email address (we want to keep you!) - unsubscribe under your old
address (send blank Email
We’d love to print your articles on recruiting, inspiring, training and
retaining employees. Email
your article.
**We’ll be back next month with more great tips, ideas, success stories, and
information to help you recruit, inspire, train, & retain great employees!
RECRUIT, INSPIRE & RETAIN contains links to websites operated by
organizations other than
TRAINING SYSTEMS, INC.
These links are for your convenience and we assume
no responsibility for the content or operations of those sites.
RECRUIT, INSPIRE & RETAIN
TRAINING SYSTEMS, INC.,
published 12 times/year. Editor: Carolyn B. Thompson, Data Entry: Patti
Lowczyk (Lowczyk Secretarial), HTML: Debbie Daw (http://www.helpquestdomains.com).
Visit us at http://www.trainingsys.com
soon!
SUBSCRIBE (it's FREE) -
send blank Email to:
join-rir@trainingsys.com
to: leave-rir@trainingsys.com)
then subscribe your new address (send blank Email to:
join-rir@trainingsys.com)