Podcast: How to choose your target companies

On June 15, 2020
Podcast: How to choose your target companies

Choosing your target companies, with Nick Corcodilos

Source: Mac Prichard’s “Find Your Dream Job”

target companies

If you’re job hunting, it’s likely because you ended up in the wrong job, to begin with. How do you ensure that it doesn’t happen again? You stop applying for jobs, says Find Your Dream Job guest Nick Corcodilos.

Instead, you go after specific companies. And because every company needs profitability, you need to show hiring managers how you can increase their bottom line or save on costs. Nick also suggests learning enough about the company that you can show them how your specific skills apply to their specific needs.

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Nick’s take

Many thanks to Mac Prichard for his hospitality and for having me as a guest on his top-rated career podcast. Mac asked good, insightful questions and I did my best not to slip up! Hope you’ll have a listen. We can discuss your questions and comments below! Hope you enjoy this podcast!

 

 

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Employer refuses to negotiate job offer? Try this.

On June 9, 2020
Employer refuses to negotiate job offer? Try this.

How to Respond to “Take It or Leave It”

Source: Harvard Business Review
By Anyi Ma, Yu Yang and Krishna Savani

negotiate job offer

Have you ever heard one of these statements in the midst of a negotiation?

“That’s the best I can do. Take it or leave it.” Or, “I simply can’t make any more concessions. Sorry.”

Lots of negotiators use soft ultimatums like these to elicit concessions from the other party, and research shows that they are often successful in doing so. So what can you do when you are at the receiving end of such ultimatums? How can you persist to obtain a better deal for yourself?

Our research identified a surprisingly straightforward way to successfully navigate ultimatums: think about all the choices that you and your negotiation partner have in the negotiation. Or as we think of it, adopt a choice mindset.

Negotiators in a choice mindset received better outcomes in the end. Indeed, we found that the choice mindset improved negotiation outcomes in a wide variety of contexts, such as buying a used car, negotiating a job offer, and negotiating a B2B sale.

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Nick’s take

You get a job offer. You try to negotiate it. They tell you they can’t or won’t. Take it or leave it. I usually advise a candidate to accept an offer if it’s within a few bucks of what they want. Don’t negotiate for its own sake or “because they expect you to.” But if you really think you’re worth more, never fold when the other guy gives you an ultimatum. This surprising research offers a sanguine strategy to get what you want. What I love about this method is that no salary survey data is required to make your case, and “integrative negotiations” can be a win-win.

Do you fold when the employer tells you the job offer is not negotiable? Or do you engage anyway? How do you go about it? What works for you? Did you ever blow it by going too far? Do you agree that “integrative negotiations” are possible when negotiating a job offer?

 

 

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Zuckerberg plan cuts pay for up to 50% of Facebook employees

On May 27, 2020
Zuckerberg plan cuts pay for up to 50% of Facebook employees

Facebook workers get remote work option-but it could come with a pay cut

Source: arsTECHNICA
By Timothy B. Lee

Facebook

“We’re going to be the most forward-leaning company on remote work at our scale,” Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a Thursday livestream to employees. “I think that it’s quite possible that over the next five to 10 years, about 50 percent of our people could be working remotely.”

Some Facebook employees will be eligible to request remote work status and relocate to another metropolitan area. They might do this to be closer to family or to move to a city with a lower cost of living. But this option comes with a catch.

“Our policy here has been for years — is already — that [compensation] varies by location,” Zuckerberg said. “We pay a market rate, and that varies by location. We’re going to continue that principle here.” In other words, a Bay Area engineer who chooses to relocate to Omaha or Birmingham would take a pay cut.

Zuckerberg said, “we’re going to need everyone to tell us where you’re working from now.” He added that “we’ll basically adjust salary to your location at that point.”

Zuckerberg says that Facebook is “mostly going to rely on the honor code for this” — but not entirely. Facebook will check IP addresses to help detect people who lie about where they’re living.

“There will unfortunately have to be severe ramifications for people who are not honest about this,” Zuckerberg said. One reason for that, he said, is that Facebook needs to know where its employees live for tax purposes.

Nick’s take

Leave it to Silicon Valley’s greediest CEO to boost profits by leveraging COVID-19 to induce up to half his employees to move out of the Bay Area so he can cut their salaries. Hey — that’s how I read it. If about 50% of Zuck’s workers go remote, FB will effectively cut up to 50% of its payroll, using what he calls “the honor code.” Do ya think Zuck sends lower Facebook stock dividends to investors in Greybull, Wyoming because their cost of living is lower than his?

Is an engineer that lives in Silicon Valley worth less when they move to Biloxi? How about if they get hired while living in Altoona? Should FB employees with fat mortgages and Lamborghinis get paid more because their cost of living is higher? Did you know that “offshoring jobs” to save money includes moving them to Texarkana? How would you negotiate your compensation deal if you got an offer from Facebook?

 

 

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Don’t fall for A.I. video interview during COVID crisis

On May 21, 2020
Don’t fall for A.I. video interview during COVID crisis

Emotion AI researchers say overblown claims give their work a bad name

A lack of government regulation isn’t just bad for consumers. It’s bad for the field, too.

Source: MIT Technology Review
By Angela Chen and Karen Hao

video interviewPerhaps you’ve heard of AI conducting interviews. Or maybe you’ve been interviewed by one yourself. Companies like HireVue claim their software can analyze video interviews to figure out a candidate’s “employability score.” These assessments could have a big effect on a candidate’s future. But many of these promises are unsupported by scientific consensus. There are no strong, peer-reviewed studies proving that analyzing body posture or facial expressions can help pick the best workers. The hype worries the researchers. Many agree that their work–which uses various methods (like analyzing micro-expressions or voice) to discern and interpret human expressions–is being co-opted and used in commercial applications that have a shaky basis in science.

An Illinois law regulating AI analysis of job interview videos went into effect in January, and the Federal Trade Commission has been asked to investigate HireVue (though there’s no word on whether it intends to do so).

Meredith Whittaker, a research scientist at NYU and co-director of AI Now, emphasizes the difference between research and commercialization.”We are particularly calling out the unregulated, unvalidated, scientifically unfounded deployment of commercial affect recognition technologies. Commercialization is hurting people right now.” (HireVue did not respond to a request for comment.)

Nick’s take

We’ve torn down and examined the video interview before, and HireVue’s version in particular. We keep doing it because it just keeps getting worse. Now, during the time of COVID-19, you’re going to have to do video interviews — no getting around that. But what kind of video interview you subject yourself to is another matter.

If an employer wants to meet over Zoom or Webex, that’s one thing. But if they want you to record a robo-interview video so that an A.I. (artificial intelligence) algorithm can then “analyze” your expressions, tone and body language to judge your “employability,” you need to hit the PAUSE button. The researchers behind this technology say it’s bogus to use it for job interviews and are calling for consumer protections. Maybe you should tell the employer that MIT says so. Then offer to do a Zoom meeting, maybe without video.

Are you willing to be judged by algorithms that A.I. researchers say should not be commercialized for job interviews? How do you say NO? What does it mean that MIT Technology Review, and possibly the Federal Trade Commission, are taking on this $25 billion industry? And what do leading HR executives who rely on  HireVue and other such systems have to say about all this? 

 

 

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Over 60? Welcome to gig work and corporate greed

On May 7, 2020
Over 60? Welcome to gig work and corporate greed

Sinking feeling

I clung to the middle class as I aged. The pandemic pulled me under

Source: The Washington Post
By Ray Suarez

corporate greedAn eye blink ago, I was anchoring a nightly program for the cable news network Al Jazeera America. Before that, I had long tenures with “PBS NewsHour” and NPR. When I read warnings that workers could face sudden and catastrophic losses of income in their final years of employment, I was empathetic but concluded it could never happen to me. Then the wheels came off.

After Al Jazeera pulled the plug on its young network, I shoved down the rising panic, kept one eye on my bank balance as I started freelancing, and kept the other eye out for the next big thing. Like hundreds of thousands of men in their early 60s across the country, I had to get used to the idea that the marketplace might have already decided I was “done.”

“What’s this about? Corporate greed. Greed has a lot to do with it,” says Nick Corcodilos, the author of the Ask the Headhunter blog and an employment consultant.

Nick’s take

Six years ago respected news correspondent Ray Suarez interviewed me on the fledgling Al Jazeera America network about why good people can’t find jobs. Ray’s stellar career included years at PBS NewsHour and NPR. He’s a 60+ old white guy with a lot of talent. Is corporate greed killing off the well-paid professionals that help make corporate America rich? That’s what I think.

Are companies wise to eliminate their most experienced and costly older workers? It certainly saves them money. Does it actually pay off? Share your own stories — but what I’d really like is your analysis about whether this is good for business and the economy. (In this highly charged time of partisan politics, I ask that we avoid partisan politics in our discussion — there’s plenty to say and debate about how this affects business, the economy, and workers. Let’s try to stick to that. Thanks for your cooperation.)

 

 

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COVID-19: Does it kill jobs?

On April 23, 2020
COVID-19: Does it kill jobs?

COVID-19: Should I even bother applying for jobs right now?

COVID-19 has sent shockwaves through the business world, and many are asking if they should even TRY to get a job right now. It’s… it’s complicated.

COVID-19Source: The American Genius
By Lani Rosales, COO + News Director

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people are either working from home, or nervously in an office setting right now, or are already unemployed. Many are wondering if they’ll have a job tomorrow, and worse, folks already unemployed are wondering if there is any hope in sight. I won’t sugar coat this – it sucks.

This whole thing sucks. For some sectors, despite the government working toward relief efforts, this is devastating. Truly. For other sectors particularly those in tech or corporate life (which is where our focus is for this story), there is a recovery in the future.

It’s universally awful, but it’s not an impossible situation. In fact, this could turn out to be a major advantage for you if approached properly.

Nick’s take

What sucks is all the lame advice about jobs during the COVID-19 crisis. But Lani Rosales offers uncommon insights about your job prospects — and about employers. I like her candor and no-nonsense directive to “deal with it but be smart.” There’s a bit of throwaway advice (pay for a professionally written resume), but this quick read delivers some very tasty tips and useful perspective. And it’ll make you feel better.

What’s your take?

What did you find in Rosales’ tips that changes your view of getting or keeping a job during the crisis? Let’s compare notes — and talk about how to implement some of these ideas. Please post your thoughts in the Comments below!

 

 

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Alt. College Degree for New Collar Jobs?

On April 9, 2020
Alt. College Degree for New Collar Jobs?

The New Collar Workforce

In today’s manufacturing environment, it’s skills and ability—not academic pedigree—that matter most. It’s time to update the blue-collar/white-collar approach to the workforce.

new collar jobsSource: Industry Week
By Adrienne Selko

Former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty: “IBM has championed a new educational model for the United States — six-year public high schools that combine traditional education with the best of community colleges, mentoring, and real-world job experience.”

The concept is to look at ability, not academic grooming.

“Getting a job at today’s IBM does not always require a college degree. What matters most is relevant skills, sometimes obtained through vocational training. We are creating and hiring to fill ‘new collar’ jobs — entirely new roles in areas such as cybersecurity, data science, artificial intelligence and cognitive business.”

Another welcome trend is the emergence of regional partnerships for apprentices and other training. The best route for these partnerships is to work closely with companies to determine specific job needs. Community education should be aligned with the skills of open jobs.

News I want you to use item submitted by long-time reader Rick Manning.

Nick’s take

Sounds great. I’m a big believer in a 4-year college education, but I also believe in apprenticeship. (See The Training Gap: How employers lose their competitive edge.) Rometty suggests taxpayers should pay for an Alt. college degree to custom-train workers for New Collar jobs at IBM. Who pays for what, and who’s really getting the benefits?

What’s your take?

Should public education policy be driven by the needs of industry? Should taxpayers foot the bill to custom-train workers for IBM?

 

 

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Glassdoor Mud-Pit: Employees sued for negative company reviews

On March 18, 2020
Glassdoor Mud-Pit: Employees sued for negative company reviews

Every employee’s worst nightmare, getting outed on Glassdoor, could become a reality

glassdoor

Source: FastCompany
By Michael Grothaus

You’ve left a company that you have legitimate grievances against. As thousands of others do, you go to Glassdoor to leave what you believe is a fair and accurate appraisal of your work experiences at the company. A short while later, you’re notified that your former employer has taken court action to out you, claiming your review breached the company’s severance agreements.

But this is no hypothetical nightmare; it’s what no fewer than 10 former employees of cryptocurrency exchange company Kraken are facing. As EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey says: This litigation is designed to harass and silence current and former Kraken employees for speaking about their experiences at the company.

Nick’s take

Glassdoor built a mud pit. It has long profited from employees who enter the pit and sling mud — anonymous negative company reviews. Meanwhile, companies reward HR staff for posting fake positive reviews. (See also: Is wrong information being given out at Glassdoor?) Now companies are conditioning severance packages on no-mud-slinging (non-disparagement) clauses. It was only a matter of time until the splatter triggered lawsuits.

What’s your take?

Once they enter the mud pit, does anyone have a right to complain about getting splattered? Do you have a right to post anonymous complaints about your experience with an employer? Does an employer have a right to stop you from talking about its reputation — in exchange for a payoff in a severance package it gives you?

 

 

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Discrimination: Social media trails can get you hired?

On February 28, 2020
Discrimination: Social media trails can get you hired?

Amazon Lawsuit: Managers Scoured Job Candidates’ Social Media for Race and Gender Info

It doesn’t matter what your motivation is, illegal discrimination is illegal.

discrimination

Source: Inc.
By Suzanne Lucas, aka The EvilHRLady

Lisa McCarrick filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Monday, alleging two significant problems. The first: she’s paid less than her male coworkers. The second: her manager told her to “scour” job candidate’s social media to determine race and gender/ethnicity and then fired her when she complained.

McCarrick claims that her managers wanted her to search out race and gender to increase diversity at Amazon…[but] It doesn’t matter that your goal is to increase your minority or female hires. You cannot discriminate based on race or gender for almost all positions.

 

Nick’s take

This article gave me a headache. Amazon HR instructs managers to use job applicants’ social media footprints to make sure they hire more women and minorities. Is that discrimination or reverse discrimination or just plain illegal any way you slice it? And if a manager refuses to scour a job candidate’s social media for race and gender info, the manager gets fired? You can’t make this stuff up!

What’s your take?

Have your social media tracks ever helped you get a job? Or cost you a job? What will HR and employers think of next to discriminate — and to get their companies sued?

 

 

 

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HR tech makes your job search a living hell

On February 14, 2020
HR tech makes your job search a living hell

 

Cost Cutting Algorithms Are Making Your Job Search a Living Hell

More companies are using automated job screening systems to vet candidates, forcing jobseekers to learn new and absurd tricks to have their résumés seen by a human.

HR techSource: Motherboard | Vice
By Nick Keppler

“I’m doing something else while the system is interviewing my candidates,” [a “senior recruiter”] says with a smile. The message is clear: She’s offloaded much of her work to someone else. Ifeoma Ajunwa, an assistant professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University said automated systems will probably continue to amass between jobs and jobseekers. “I think that’s the way it’s going to advance… Companies have come to count on it.” The makers of more advanced applicant tracking systems are acutely aware of the bias problem, but are not certain of a solution. Should job applicants rebel? Should they refuse to take online assessments or to upload video faux interviews or engage the next faceless gatekeeper?

 

HR tech in your face: Nick’s take

Don’t miss this excellent run-down on the “pseudoscience” and “profoundly disturbing” technology that HR is using in its never-ending battle to turn you into a bucket o’ bits. See also Why does HR waste time, money and the best job candidates?

What’s your take?

Do you let employers put HR tech between you and a job? Between you and the hiring manager? When is this going to stop — and who’s going to stop it?

 

 

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