HR is a Verb

I was recently asked about a proud accomplishment in a position I held a few years back. In my response, I told this individual how I saved our firm over $200k by implementing an in-house recruiting program. Surely that answer would impress. I couldn’t have been more wrong. That answer alone wasn’t enough. The person asked for another accomplishment. I searched my brain, rattled the cobwebs of yesteryear and attempted to find other standout moments in my previous job. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could think to say.

This really stuck with me. I believe that all too often, while in our careers and daily jobs, we get comfortable and stop thinking about the next thing. I’ve noticed that I’m an individual who takes pride in all aspects of my job and I don’t consider one thing more important than another. But, when viewed from the eyes of a third party, there are clearly more significant accomplishments than others in my job. As a career minded individual, one has to highlight those significant accomplishments and relate them to business strategy.

As you go back to work Monday, take an inventory of what you do. How does it relate to your overall department strategy and the company strategy? Begin to think like a hiring manager in an interview. I was once told that I have to be ready to give a quick summary of who I am if someone were to ask, “What do you do?” If I was in an elevator and had seven floors to tell someone what I do, would I be ready? I’ll challenge you to take that to the next level and be ready to tell someone a few accomplishments in your current or past job in only seven floors.

I wasn’t ready for the question, and I looked like an average professional. What kind of professional will you look like?

Now, what was that second accomplishment again?

Hello, my name is John Jakovenko and I have a problem.  I’m competitive.  Since I was young, I could not lose.  It’s not that I wouldn’t lose, but that I refused to take loss as a viable option in life. 

I recently completed the Kentucky Bourbon Trail with a few friends and quite a few times along the way, I heard the theme, “you’re too competitive.”  The most recent reference was with regard to my wanting to complete the trip within the two days which were allotted to us.  In order to hit each distillery along the trail, we had strict time lines to meet along the way.  One of our companions got a bit stressed out by my strict time table and told me I was being rude and that this was a vacation and we need to relax.  No one cares about the distilleries and what will happen if we don’t complete the bourbon trail? 

Taken outside of the distillery

We can always come back.  The world won’t end and I’m just being good ole’ competitive John, and competing against time and myself.  Well, of course, this got me thinking.

I’ve yet to meet someone who was not competitive and was highly successful. Perhaps I’m sheltered, but thus far in my life, I have not personally met someone who has run a successful company, department, or life by simply doing nothing.  Don’t get me wrong, “don’t worry, be happy” is a great way to live and relax, but to climb a mountain, you have to take a few steps.  Anyone can run a race, but to win, you have to train.  I’m not sure Columbus jumped into a ship, aimed east, and said “Let’s go where the wind takes us.”  My grandfather didn’t escape Russian persecution, German DP camps and a 12-day cramped boat ride across the Atlantic without a bit of competitive drive.  Unfortunately, six million others in his position were not as fortunate. 

With everything I do, I set a goal.  That goal becomes my motivation.  That motivation becomes my life.  Every action I take is one step closer to achieving my goal.  My goal was six distilleries in two days.  I planned the mileage, timing, routes, and even cushioned in some time for mistakes along the way.  We made each one of them and were able to hit Nashville and Jack Daniels on the way home.  Heck, we even worked some white water rafting into the itinerary.    

I believe a potential downside to competition is the effect if may have on relationships.  Someone asked me if a caveman would be better on his own or in a group.  I’m not sure that’s the appropriate question.  This assumes the only answer can be one or the other.  Other items go into play here as well.  Individual definitions of success, group norms, cultural background, etc. all have an impact of judging whether being too competitive is harmful.  This cannot be answered in a blog, but I’d love to see a good old fashioned university study.  Competition may strain relationships, but a bit of EQ can temper that potential hot spot. 

For me, competition provides the motivation I need to achieve my goals.  You don’t have to like it, but please don’t tell me I’m too competitive.  Honestly, I don’t think I’m competitive enough.    What I believe is this:  Competition, like the bourbon along the trail, is fantastic, as long as it’s used responsibly. 

Now, who wants to go for a run?

I know, another LinkedIn discussion?  I had a question, so I had to ask.  Should you be a manager if you cannot fire someone?  Perhaps it takes coaching, perhaps it doesn’t.  Are you born with it?

After hundreds of responses and comments, the simple answer is, “it depends.”  So with that said, what say you?

Click here to join the discussion today!

I recently posted a discussion on LinkedIn on whether an e-mail resignation, without speaking to a supervisor was appropriate.  In my opinion, this is never acceptable.  But…there are many differing thoughts.   What do you think?

Click here to join the discussion today!

Diversity, unlike life, is less like a box of chocolates, and more like the inside of a fitness center. In my effort to uncover what, exactly, diversity is, I believe I have stumbled upon a decent analogy. Diversity is similar to lifting weights. How so? Follow me on this one:

Let’s say I go to the gym to workout. It’s my first time in the gym and I have a goal of becoming the next Arnold Schwarzenegger (save for the illegitimate children). But, because I’m new, I’m going to have to start of on some light weights and basic exercises before moving onwards and upwards. I walk up to the wall of dumbbells and grab 10 lbs and start my routine. After a few sets, I notice 10 lbs is a bit light, so I should probably grab some more weight. When I look around the gym, all I find are 10 lbs weights.

That’s odd. How can I improve, grow and get into better shape with only one type of weight in the entire gym? I know, I’ll just use the weights differently each time. Okay, that works for only a little bit. So now what? If I were like most companies now, I’d simply add a few red or green weights to the mix. Heck. Maybe a few weights that are a few years older mixed in with some that are brand new may help me get fit. That will help me reach my ultimate physical potential, right? These statements is just as uninformed as assuming diversity is only about race or age or other basic factors.

Fortunately, for me, this gym has a fantastic marketing department who has convinced me that I need diversity to become a weight lifting all-star. They state that if I’m not using different 10lb weights, I’m not going to advance. Some other local gyms even mandate a certain level of different 10lb weights must be maintained on the premise at all times. It doesn’t matter what they do for you, so long as they are different.

So the green 10 lb weight didn’t do much different, other than attract a few more patrons. That doesn’t help me. To get big, I have to add more weight. Vary my exercises. Use different machines and equipment. What can different weights bring to the table to help me achieve my goals? That is diversity.

When you search for a gym to join, you look for the most diverse gym. Which one offers the most benefits? Who has the swimming pool? Which has the most free weights? Why? You are looking to be the absolute best you can be and you need all the help you can get. You don’t walk into a gym and get surprised that there are so many pieces of exercise equipment. Why then is diversity in the workplace so difficult to understand? I’ve read countless articles on diversity. I’ve read how it’s important. How it’s needed. But no one has a solid definition or a viable means to attain a more diverse workforce.

Like going to the gym and using the best machines and exercises that I can to obtain my fitness goals, I hire in the same manner. I’m looking for the best of the best, and that best is naturally going to be diverse. The workforce is now more diverse. Our client base is more diverse. I have to keep up with my competitors or I will lose. Diversity helps me achieve my company goals just like a good workout routine gets me to my fitness goals.

Now drop and give me 20…

To add to my blog series on work ethic, I wanted to send a quick, published thank you to my old man for being cheap.

Yup.  My pops was cheap.  The day I turned 15, I got a job.  Little did I know that would also be the day I never got money from my parents again!  If I needed shoes, I had to save up.  If I wanted to drive the car, I needed to pay for gas and insurance.  If I wanted to go to prom, it mean a few hours of overtime at Winn-Dixie.  Sure, I grumbled and complained.  I was full of jealousy of my friend whose parents gave them cash for gas, events, and even allowance.  I’m sure we all new those kids who even got allowance in college!

Thank you, dad for being cheap.  For not buying more than we needed. Thanks for not going into debt to keep up with the Jones’s.  Thanks for showing me that you always need a job, even if you can’t find the one you want. Now, I can’t thank you for everything.
We could have used more vacations. We could have used a college savings account.  I could have used a few more pro baseball
games or movie nights, but it wasn’t in the cards.  Now, I make sure my family will have a few more of those.

What I have learned is that when I’m tempted to give my kids
want they want, I’m reminded how I never really got what I wanted.  I worked for what I wanted.  With the exception of Christmas time, gifts were rare, but nothing felt better than buying something you wanted after hard work.

I look back, and I’ve got everything I’ve wanted.  Family, house, land, vehicles, toys, a couple of degrees and a great job.  Why?  To be honest, I’ve never known anything else.  Work to get what you want.  It’s funny. I never win raffles or lotto stuff. If I had a true and false question in class and didn’t know the answer, I always guessed wrong.  I now know that my lot in life is to work for everything I have.  But looking back, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I grow up, I’m going to be something.  But, I’m going to do it on my terms through hard/smart work.  Thanks, dad.

I owe you the following: Jack, cigar and golf.  Let’s go hack the course together.  The good Lord knows we’ve worked hard for it!

We live and an age of instant gratification.  Those entering the workforce have never lived life without a computer and most don’t know what a cell phone wasn’t.  In an effort to leave no child behind, we made everyone feel included and even the losers were winners in our book.  Life for kids now is like Dundy Award from NBC’s The Office.  Everyone wins something, no matter how silly. 

That’s all wonderful, until those same kids grow up, enter the workforce and expect the same thing. 

In most companies, upper management is aging.  They remember when gas was $.50 cents a gallon and you would get an ice cream for a nickel.  Most did not have computers their entire lives and some still prefer not to use one!  They came from a school of thought that is slowly diminishing today.  These old timers value hard work and dedication.

Contrast that to smart work and “I’m out if you don’t give me what I want.”  When I ask the younger people in interviews what their work ethic is like, they often stare back at me or provide an answer that has nothing to do with work ethic.  I asked the same questions as a discussion topic on LinkedIn.  I’m still getting blank stares.

So, here is my attempt to define work ethic in my own words:  It’s that get up everyday no matter how you feel, work like it’s your first day, stay until the job is done, give 110% and never complain feeling. 

I got it from watching my father work to support our family no matter the situation.  I got it from watching my mother put food on the table for five of us by staying under an impossible budget.  I got it from witnessing my wife’s epic journey from Romania to America.  I get it from watching my daughter try something over and over until she’s perfected it.

I’m not old, but I have a tremendous work ethic.  I value others who have that same determination.  I pity those who don’t because I know they will reach their plateau all too fast.  Watch others who are successful and emulate their work ethic.  Don’t chase the dollar or you’ll trip.  Chase your career and work hard.

Work ethic.  What’s your definition?  Join the discussion now!

     High school could be a trying time for anyone, let alone a kid trying to find himself.  I grew up playing baseball from as early as I can remember.  I think I was about three when my parents went to a wedding and left me with some friends of the family.  I remember going in the backyard and playing ball with a big plastic bat and ball.  The husband would toss it to me and I would hit it.  We were playing close to the fence and I remember hitting it over the fence once and the guy being amazed (at least that’s what a young mind’s eye remembers).

     I played every year thereafter from tee ball to freshman year in high school when I had my first dose of reality.  I was never a tremendous ball player, having only a few standout performances.  But, for never being trained by a personal coach, having terrible dads as coaches, and trying to figure things out on my own, I was not all that bad.  Some proper coaching and training, I’d be really good.  What was it my dad said?  “You’re just an average ball player.”  Thanks pops!  Mind spending some money to make me a bit better so I don’t end up embarrassing myself one day?

      The first practice of my freshman year I, along with three other boys, was pulled into the dugout with the coaches.  Mind you, we are all excited to have just made a high school baseball team.  Heck, they might just make us captains now.  The coach told us that they did not have enough uniforms for everyone on the team as they made a mistake when they posted the cut list.  Our names were accidentally left on the roster.  So, we would be considered red shirts and could practice with the team, but we would not be able to play in games.  Perhaps though, if we could prove ourselves, we’d move ahead of others on the team. 

     The rest of the practice was a blur and the rest of the season was nightmare for me.  I was ridiculed, picked on, made to wear an old jersey on picture day which made me stand out like a sore thumb.  But, still, for some strange reason I thought if I went to every practice, and every game, and work like crazy, surely they’d see my desire and ability.    Didn’t happen. 

     Often times, new employees are set up for the impossible.  Too high of expectations.  Too poor of managers.  No tools to have the opportunity to be successful.    No matter how hard they try, they were set up for failure and in the end they ultimately fail.  When you are placed in a no-win situation, you have two options.  Stand your ground and go down fighting, or try out for another team who will value the unique skills you can bring.  They key is to recognize poor management as soon as possible and make a decision.  Staying on board and trying will lead to your own personal frustration and will ultimately make your time a nightmare. 

     Benjamin Franklin said it best, “Good counsel failing men can give, for why?  He that’s aground knows where the shoal doth lie.”

     The following year, I tried out again.   I had a great tryout but didn’t make the team.  All four of us, save for one who dropped out of school, had tried out and didn’t make the team.  The coach said anyone who didn’t make the cut was more than welcome to meet in his office during lunch to discuss the reasons and to get some tips.  We were the only ones in the room.  He looked at us and said the following one phrase which has helped me in almost every aspect of my life.  With no valid reason for us to be cut, he said:

     “You just don’t walk like a baseball player.”

     Our softball game was at 9:30pm last night.  I went 3 for 3 with 4 rbi’s and a home run.

I recently had the opportunity to volunteer for Junior Achievement of Georgia teaching success skills at a local high school. While the students and teacher were pleasant, and the classes went smoothly, I was stunned at how many students did not, or have never, had a job. Why was I stunned? They were mostly seniors in high school. Of the 25 students in the class, only two had jobs. One student actually quit that job halfway through my term there (guess I didn’t emphasize the success part of the success skills).

Per haps it’s generational?

When I was young, I started off selling lemonade on the street corner to the high school kids getting off the bus. As I got older, I moved to mowing lawns for $20 dollars a pop. “Any lawn, any size.” Can you imagine the regret I had on that one? Try “weed eating” with scissors for a one acre lawn. Summer heat in Florida made it all very exciting. The big day came when I turned 15 and got my job bagging groceries at the local Winn-Dixie. $4.25 an hour for 10 hours a week of work. I worked there for three years until my senior year of high school when I got the coveted job at Blockbuster Video (prior to DVD’s). Be kind, please rewind was my motto! Honestly, since the day I turned 15 years old, I have never been out of work. I enjoy working and the satisfaction that comes with each paycheck in the bank. I enjoy being a part of a team. I enjoy workplace drama (I am, after all, in HR).

We all had jobs in high school. Who worked where and who did what was always important to us. Those kids whose mom and dad paid for everything (while it made us all jealous) we’re not as well respected by us working class folk. So, fast forward (VHS rental industry speak) 10 to15 years. I look at my sister’s generation (my sisters are 10 years and 14 years younger than me) and I can’t believe what I see.

Neither of my sisters had jobs and didn’t really want one. Their friends don’t have jobs and the schools don’t emphasize the need for one! Based on my extensive market research (sample size of 3) one has two degrees, certifications, and an upcoming book, the other two have no college education, and don’t really care. Granted, one is still in high school and the other is perusing dreams of stardom in the Big Apple. I still say, “Huh?”

When I questioned the students in class as to why they had no jobs, they said their parents paid for everything. Some said their parents wanted them to focus on school. Others didn’t have an answer. So, with my keen investigative skills learned from years of CSI watching (and my brief acting stint on CSI-Miami and CSI-NY) I asked probing questions:
• What do your resumes look like?
• Don’t college applications ask for work experience
• How do you buy things?
• How do you pay for prom!
• What will you do when you get to college?

The responses were more like blank stares as if I was conducting a seminar in a room full of zombies. If schools are not teaching the importance of hard work and the value of a dollar, and if colleges don’t require work as a prerequisite for acceptance, and if parents don’t push the students to contribute to our economy, where are we going to be in 10 years?!? If I worked less than my parents, and my kids work less than me, what will become of us in 50 years?

My best friend’s dad, Bob Baker, was a business genius (in my mind). He was definitely someone I looked up to. He said two things I remember fondly which I have incorporated into my daily life:
1. In order to have fun, you have to spend money.
2. Every chance he got, he would speak to us about opportunity cost. Even at seven years old, I knew what opportunity cost was (although I couldn’t have told you the name for the definition). Mr. Baker made sure we knew how much everything we wanted actually costs us.

We would ask for something or see something in the store and he would ask us how much we earned. He’d let us wash his car, or help with the lemonade stands. If something was $5.00, he’d say, “That’s one car wash. Is that toy worth one car wash?” Or, “That video game is $50. Are you sure you want to spend 12 hours at work for that game?”

Perhaps it’s generations, geographical, or even having a good mentor. But times are changing, I’m concerned, but not all that threatened. Put me up against the new crop of employees entering the market and I will continue to run circles around them. I just hope our economy can sustain such minimal contributions.

I have made the following challenge to one of my colleagues: Convince me that wellness is all it’s cracked up to be. Is there a business case for wellness? We have consultants in wellness, we have wellness companies, and even insurance companies are pushing wellness! Does it work?
I’ve decided to play the devil’s advocate to wellness. I’ve decided to be that bad guy who says wellness doesn’t work! If it does, prove it!
You think that educating a population of people who love mac and cheese, Big Macs and BLT’s is going to jump onto a wellness band wagon? Carrot and stick? Let’s see… Lower premiums is the carrot and the stick is this mystifying wellness program. I still haven’t seen a plausible case. I have yet to see any proof. Why I Hate HR was the big article of human resource controversy. Now, tell me the next case that changes us as HR professionals. I should be able to Google “wellness” and find the article on why wellness works.
With this challenge, I issue a challenge to our Twitter nation, our Facebook nation, the Linkedin groups, and the ALA networks! Every CEO, managing partner, boss extraordinaire all say the same thing… PROVE IT. I say it now. Tell me why I should buy into a dream today so I get more money in my pocket tomorrow!
There you have it… What can you say?