Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization Show

For years, virtual reality (VR) has been synonymous with gaming. Matt Burns, founder of Bento HR and Global HR Summit, is betting VR will be the technology that helps HR transform the way businesses recruit, train, and develop their workforce. Confronted with historic HR challenges from recruitment and retention to reskilling and upskilling, conventional and traditional HR approaches just aren’t working. The problem is that many HR professionals don’t have a clue how VR can be used and the power and the potential it can unlock. I’m excited to welcome Matt Burns to Geeks Geezers Googlization to discuss the future of work, hybrid workplaces, and of course, how your company can make VR work to solve the #1 business challenge for the rest of this decade: skilled labor shortages. My 2nd guest is Dick Finnegan, Founder of C-Suite Analytics. Dick and Ira S Wolfe will be joining SHRM's July Tune-In-Tuesday show to discuss recruitment, labor shortages, employee retention, and stay interviews. Dick offered a preview of what he'll be presenting at SHRM21 - stay interviews. Both Dick and Ira will be presenting at the SHRM21 Annual Conference. Ira also will be presenting at the 2021 SHRM Talent Conference.

Microaggressions are a workplace reality. Nearly 50 percent of Americans have experienced some type of microaggression at work. Over time, microaggressions, even unintentional, can accumulate and build into out-and-out discrimination. What can leaders do to recognize microaggressions? How can leaders make sure their employees feel safe, included, and comfortable? Heather R Younger, founder of employee engagement and leadership development firm Employee Fanatix, will share 5 steps leaders can take to mitigate and prevent microaggressions in the workplace and how to create safe spaces, aka judgment-free workplaces. With the “great resignation” and labor shortages in full swing, companies can ill afford any friction between candidates applying and employees showing up for work. Mitigating microaggressions in the workplace is key to both attracting more top talent and employee retention. Heather was recently selected to deliver her 2nd TEDx talk and is the author of the new book, The Art of Caring Leadership: How Leading with Heart Uplifts Teams and Organizations.

Rishon Blumberg isn't just any other game-changer in the world of talent acquisition and talent management. Rishon sources "rockstar" quality talent on demand, or what he calls 10X. His recent book is appropriately titled Game Changer: How To Be 10x in the Talent Economy which reveals the strategies companies and individuals can take to become 10X. What’s 10X and what does it take to acquire 10X talent? (You’ll have to listen for that tip!) Rishon is, first and foremost, an entrepreneur. It’s what he studied, graduating from the Wharton School of Business with a degree in entrepreneurial management in 1994. From concert promotion to co-founding Brick Wall Management, 10x Management and 10x Ascend, he has imbued his entrepreneurial passions with purpose. 10x has rocketed to the forefront of its industry, helping its clients acquire “rock star” talent on demand. In doing so, he’s carved out a place as a trusted and exclusive resource for companies seeking the best and most coveted freelance tech experts. Rishon joins Geeks Geezers Googlization Show this week to share how companies must reimagine top talent acquisition, how to best manage 10X talent, and the biggest trends in the future of work. During the 2nd segment, host Ira S Wolfe shares the 3 recruitment reports he believes should be on the top of every recruiter's dashboard.

Before February 2020, recruiting college students and recent graduates was a recurring annual tradition. Employers camped out on campus to secure the best and brightest for internships and jobs. Then COVID-19 hit and college campus activity came to a screeching halt. Now that the pandemic is basically behind us, how will college recruiting change? How did the pandemic impact internships? What is Amazon’s impact on recruitment and the labor market? Where are wages headed? For answers, Steven Rothberg, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of College Recruiter, joins this week’s episode of Geeks Geezers Googlization Show. If you’re not familiar with Collegerecruiter.com, it connects high-quality students and recent graduates at scale to great part-time, seasonal, internship, and entry-level career opportunities. During the second segment host, Ira S Wolfe discusses the importance of validity, reliability, and job relevance when selecting and using pre-employment testing. Wolfe shares his easy-to-implement tip for customizing assessments to each position instead of using the same questions and criteria for every job.

Struggling to attract great candidates fast? Open positions suffocating your company’s growth plans? What trends are shaping the future of recruitment and talent acquisition? There is definitely no one size fits all and making the best choices can be confusing. From job postings to virtual career fairs, video is part of any effective solution. Why video? Because according to this week’s guest Lindsay Stanton, President of Digi-Me, video attracts more talent to your job postings, engages them longer, and converts more job seekers to job applicants. Video isn’t just for job postings and career sites either. The virtual career fair arrived just in time for the pandemic but is sure to be a popular sourcing strategy moving forward. To help make sense of what’s next for HR Tech, video, digital recruiting, and the future of talent acquisition, listen or watch no! My second guest, futurist David Houle, ironically experienced a few video technology glitches. Consequently, we had an abbreviated interview and it's audio-only. But he'll be back on July 21 again to discuss his most recent book, The 2020s: A Decade of Cognitive Dissonance. For a sneak peek of things to come, David explained what cognitive dissonance is and why COVID19 was just training wheels for the decade ahead.

Nine out of 10 companies will be embracing the hybrid workplace model according to a new McKinsey report. But 68 percent of them have no detailed plan. A recent Wall Street Journal described the emerging era of hybrid work “might be even more messy” than the work from home transition millions of workers experienced in 2020. What does the future of hybrid work mean for employees, talent acquisition, employee engagement, diversity & inclusion, and productivity?  What must managers and leaders do to become a remote-first or remote-friendly company? IBM Vice-President and North American Talent & Transformation Leader Victoria Pelletier joins me for this episode of Geeks Geezers and Googlization.  My second guest will focus on how many organizations are recognizing and addressing misconduct (discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying) while employees work completely remotely or in a hybrid model. This segment's expert is Kia Roberts, the Founder, and Principal of Triangle Investigations. Kia is the former NFL Director of Investigations. We’ll be exploring what misconduct reporting processes managers should be implementing to ensure employees feel safe whether working in a virtual, hybrid, or physical workspace.

With job openings at an all-time high, it’s crunch time for companies to get diversity hiring right. Women dropped out of the workforce in droves during the pandemic (almost twice the rate of men) but many won’t be coming back unless companies start treating them fairly, equitably, and as equals. The change goes beyond policies. According to the FairyGodBoss survey on diversity recruiting, 98 percent of organizations say it's a priority, but only a fraction have made significant changes. Only 1 in 4 of those same companies even has a requirement for a diverse slate of candidates. Women of color were particularly hit hard. It's also notable that some progress has been made at senior executive levels but much more work needs to be done at the front lines and even mid-management. Joining me for this Geeks Geezers Googlization Show is Georgene Huang, CEO, and co-founder of FairyGodBoss.com, the largest career community and job board for women.

Can you imagine leading an organization where employees from all generations respond to “What’s it like to work here?” with “I love it here!”  Instead of making Millennials and Gen Z scapegoats and labeling 100 Million people as lazy, disloyal, and work-ethic deficient, treat them as people. That's what Clint Pulver, as the Undercover Millennial, discovered after interviewing 10,000+ employees - that loyalty and engagement aren’t innate to different generations, but dependent on how managers and leaders treat all people. His research has discovered 4 types of managers and during this interview, he’ll share the impact that Mentor Managers have on building loyalty that lasts. Clint’s book “I Love It Here: How Great Leaders Create Organizations Their People Never Want to Leave” was published in April 2021. Our 2nd segment features Tova Sherman, CEO of the Reachability Association with more than 25 years of experience in diversity and inclusion and author of the Win, Win, Win. Tova’s message is crystal clear: diversity without inclusion is like a house without a foundation. She talks about why ramps and handrails aren’t enough, why inclusion is different but not difficult, and offers 5 simple steps you can take to create a more inclusive workplace for people with disabilities.

Companies have promoted very proudly that “people are their most important asset.” But behind closed doors, they managed human capital as an expense. Recent changes, however, at The Securities and Exchange Commission now say “put up or be shut up!”  Public companies are now required to disclose information about “human capital resources.” The lines between old-school workforce management and bottom-line growth are merging. While this new requirement currently only applies to public companies, it is not a stretch to say this will affect businesses large and small, public and private. What metrics should human resources start tracking today to comply with the demands of the modern marketplace? This week we reached out to Solange Charas, PhD., Founder and CEO of HCMoneyball and Distinguished Principal Research Fellow at The Conference Board, will share what this means for the future of Human Capital Management.    Our second segment features a favorite passion topic of Geeks Geezers Googlization - candidate and employee experience. There is no better resource than UX and CX strategist Debbie Levitt, “the Mary Poppins of CX/UX” and Chief Experience Officer at Delta CX. She recently shared that “hiring for UX and CX jobs is a freaking disaster.” Descriptions are ambiguous, expectations are unrealistic, and screening is often not aligned with the skill requirements of the job. Debbie’s solution? She recently wrote an 8+ hour training with 50 videos (Attracting and Retaining CX and UX Talent) to help HR and Recruiters learn more about UX and CX and how they can attract and retain great talent to their companies.

If you’re hearing recruitment crickets, this could be why: your hiring process sucks! The economy is showing signs of a boom. The job market is heating up. The labor market is tight. Wages are rising and time-to-fill rates are rising. And yet, the top talent that companies seek, simply walk away and head straight to the competition. Why? HR and managers aren’t always on the same page. The values and expectations of hiring managers don’t align with the messaging used to attract candidates. Onboarding is more about paperwork and getting acknowledgment that new hires read the employee handbook than welcoming and introducing them into the business and culture. We also do our best to pound the last nail into the annual performance review’s coffin! It’s time that organizations accept that recruitment is marketing and hiring is sales according to our guest Molly McGrath, founder of Hiring & Empowering Solutions. In this episode, we’ll be talking about why HR and your managers may be killing your hiring process and how to fix it.