Monthly Archives: November 2012

Why Do You Keep Hiring Poor Candidates? (Leadership 101)

poor culture fitSo you made a bad hire. Lesson learned. Eventually it happens to everyone.

But why haven’t you moved them on yet? Why are they still hanging around and leeching the morale from your team when you know good and well that they just aren’t going to fit?

Every day that you keep a “poor fit” employee, you make the decision to hire them all over again.

I’ll explain. See, when you hire someone and put that money into them, that’s what economics nerds like to call “sunk cost.” In a nutshell, the cost of the original choice has already been incurred, so don’t let that impact your decisions going forward. Continue reading →

Is the PHR Exam Difficult?

Is the PHR exam difficult? Just how hard is the PHR exam?

how hard is the phr examBecause of my history of talking about the HR certification exams, I get a lot of questions about the difficulty level of the PHR and SPHR exams. At first glance, it’s easy to see why people ask those questions. According to the HRCI statistics, nearly half of those who take the exams fail them, which can cause anxiety for those who aren’t good test takers.

What makes the PHR exam difficult?

Maybe it’s the “timed test” factor. Maybe it’s test anxiety. Maybe it’s the difficulty level of the questions. Maybe it’s the nearly-famous ambiguity of the questions. Or maybe it’s something else.

I honestly don’t know which part of the exam presents the biggest hurdle, but based on the failure rate statistics I mentioned above, it’s obvious that there is a barrier to HR professionals successfully completing the test. Continue reading →

UAB Innovations in Wellness Conference

innovations wellness conferenceRecently the organizers for the inaugural UAB Innovations in Wellness Conference reached out to me to see if I would be interested in attending. It sounds like a unique event with some great insights, and I am excited about the opportunity to check out this new conference.

Even better, I can take you with me.

Yes, you heard me correctly.

If you’re local to the Huntsville/Birmingham area (or within a reasonable drive and you want to get a hotel in Birmingham) and you are interested in attending, please send me an email by Thursday, November 8th. Continue reading →

Company Book Club? There’s a Better Way

company book clubCompany Book Club vs. Developing an Employee Reading Program

In a previous blog post titled hire for attitude, train for everything else, I wrote about the importance of considering a required reading program for your employees (takes it a step further than the corporate library, right?). At the time, it was just an idea spawned from observing another company and how they operate. However, I am now giving this kind of idea serious consideration in my own organization. See, this year we are going to focus on emphasizing our corporate culture as a recruiting tool, and this is just one more thing (strategy) to set us apart from the average employer.

Why I Believe in Reading (And Why HR Should, Too)

Before I try to sell this idea, I want to explain why reading matters to me. According to some (terrifying) statistics, in 2002, nearly 90 million adults in the US did not read a single book. That might not have an impact on you; but it should. I'll put it another way.

Those are our employees. Those are our managers. Those are the unemployed who so desperately want to find jobs.  Continue reading →