Rethinking Age in Hiring
We recently sent an email to our BEST BRIEFS newsletter subscribers on the topic of ageism, and it definitely touched a nerve. Here is the original email content, followed by some of the comments we received on the subject. Our Original Message On January 20th, President Biden was sworn in and is now officially the oldest President the U.S. has ever had at 78 years old. A few weeks later, a 43-year-old Quarterback, with a 68-year-old Head Coach, and an 82-year-old Offensive Consultant, won the Super Bowl. These events alone should have us rethink ageism, but unfortunately, it is alive and well, and COVID has made matters worse. Studies show that workers ages 55 and older have experienced increased ageism from employers, particularly amid the pandemic. As people start to enter their 50s, they are more attuned to discrimination in the workplace. So much so that 58% of workers aged 50 or older have noticed age discrimination firsthand. Yet they’re known as being the most engaged in the workplace, not to mention the most experienced. Though our article on the topic of ageism (“Focusing on Youth in Hiring is Hurting Your Organizational Health”) was published before COVID, the point remains – it is time to rethink age in hiring, especially in industries (i.e., horticulture) where experience and qualified talent is increasingly becoming difficult to secure. After all, where are the Mentors and Coaches badly needed by younger generations to be found? Comments We heard from several business leaders on this topic, and here are a few of their comments. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Personally, I achieved the most in my 50’s and 60’s: I wrote two of my three books, spoke 22 times across Canada and the U.S. won an award for Best U.S. Speaker in Canada from TEC, a Canadian CEO peer group, won five Best Place to Work and two diversity awards for United Way. I believe that individuals have to shake off society’s negative messages about getting older. We have to create our own “the best is yet to come mindset.” Oh, and my last book was all about companies that have strategies to maximize the creativity, productivity, and value of 50+ and previously retired employees. We make our own luck—and that applies to the organizations that don’t waste this valuable resource! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • You are spot-on for highlighting ageism! It is the 60-year-old elephant in the room. I have been in meetings where it was disguised as “he/she probably isn’t up to date with technology as a reason for not considering an otherwise qualified candidate.” The older generation invented the computer. We darn sure have the intellectual capacity to learn some of the updates. Also, was there when the “Are you sure he/she will fit in with the younger members of our team?” Ageism comes in many flavors and is very active in today’s job market. Employers are crying for skilled workers who show up on time and give their best but overlook an audience right before them, ready and willing to contribute. Ageism is a cancer in the workplace. My new mantra is: I N D Y stands for “I’m Not Done Yet!” • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Special thanks to those who commented on our piece. Please complete the form below if you wish to subscribe to future BEST BRIEFS newsletters. In this unprecedented business environment and labor market, it may also be time to shift your thinking on recruiting and make an investment to bring on an experienced partner. One that can help you acquire the right talent and put your company in a position to grow. We can help. If your company is ready to strategically address, improve, and invest in the hiring of the most important part of any company – its people — contact us today!
Succeeding in a Virtual Interview for Candidates
Tips you can use when being interviewed virtually. Thanks to the modern workforce enjoying the freedom of choosing their work hours and office settings and also the increased availability of telecommunication mediums, many organizations and individuals are relying on virtual meetings and interviews when exploring new candidates to join their company. Doing so can limit feelings of connection and develop uneasy feelings during an interview. However, when done correctly, virtual interviewing can establish solid rapport, increase the speed of the hiring schedule, and improve the onboarding experience. The following is a tutorial to make sure that you get the most out of your upcoming virtual interview. 1. Are you a procrastinator? No? Now is not the time to start. Get familiar with the software you will be utilizing. Test your speaker, microphone, and video. Make sure to close out of other applications to enhance the speed of your operating systems. Conduct a run-through with a peer to learn the program’s capabilities and gain feedback. If you do encounter issues where a glitch occurs and you can’t hear the response, be direct and honest. There could be a connection issue, so wait for the audio to resume and ask them to repeat what they said. It is essential to be upfront and obtain the answers necessary to make a thoughtful employment decision. 2. People like pretty Is it a coincidence that the Home & Garden Channel (HGTV) generates over $1B annually and is the fourth most-watched network behind three news outlets? Nope! People enjoy settings that make them feel a sense of comfort and organization. Refrain from overly distracting artwork, display items, and TV screens. If video conferencing from an office, that is great. If not, feel free to move things around to allow for a well-lit, neutral area. While preparing your environment, take note of where your fidget items are. Leave the stress ball in the drawer. Put the metronome in the closet. Make sure you silence notifications on your phone and the device that you are using for your interview. Your focus should be on the interviewer. As such, you should have notes and questions on the device you are using. Tip: This will allow you to maintain eye contact rather than looking down and reading from a notepad. 3. Look in the mirror When interviewing virtually, there is no checking in with the receptionist or lounging in the waiting room with other candidates. Before the call, take some time to remind yourself why you are interviewing for this role and organization. Look yourself in the mirror and get motivated. While doing so, make sure that you are well-groomed and well dressed— FROM HEAD TO TOE. Wearing a business appropriate top and sweatpants bottom is a dangerous game to play. Not only will you not be mentally stimulated wearing sweatpants, but it will also promote poor posture, and what if they ask you to stand up and show them the picture of you and your friends at the Grand Canyon up on the top shelf behind you? Nobody wants to see a half-dressed person in an interview. Enjoy the time you have with your interviewer and get to know them – they could be virtually interviewing many candidates that day. Separate yourself by following these tips and appropriately sending a thank you note of some kind promptly after the interview. Putting this tutorial into action may not have you walking out of the building in a blaze of glory, but it will bring a big smile to your face when you walk away from your camera. Click here for our Candidate Resource Center for more information and tips on resume writing, interview preparation, and more to help candidates on the next step of their career journey.
Exit Planning: It can wait until tomorrow, right?
When asked about succession or exit planning, have you given one of these responses? “I think I will leave my business in three to five years.” “The operation still needs me.” “The business is not ready to be transitioned.” “We are too busy to worry about succession.” “I will easily sell it in a few years and walk away.” “I am just not ready yet.” Or perhaps you know someone who has given one of these answers when discussing their potential exit from the business and retirement? Like starting an exercise program, exit planning can easily wait until tomorrow. However, for the Baby Boomers, tomorrow is here. Business owners born between 1945 and 1964 make up 25% of the population but own over 60% of the small businesses. The high ownership levels result from their surge into the job market in the 1970s and the lack of room in corporate America to absorb a much larger and better-educated employee population. From 1975 until the mid-1980s, Baby Boomers opened new businesses at a rate never seen before and not duplicated since. Today, over 5,000,000 Baby Boomers are preparing for retirement. Just as when they all went to college, started new businesses, and became prolific consumers, they will create a flood of small business sales in the United States. So, what is exit planning, and why should you do it? Also, how do you do it, and when should you start? Exit Planning: What is it and Why do it? When a business broker creates an “exit plan,” it usually involves listing the business for sale to a third party. An attorney’s planning focuses on the legal documents that allow the transition of a company’s assets to new ownership. An accountant or financial planner will look closely at tax and inheritance issues, and an insurance broker offers products that reduce the risk of interruption or disaster. It is logical then that exit planning is quickly becoming a significant focus of the legal and financial communities. Although boomers are healthier than prior generations, they all have to retire eventually. Tens of thousands of professional advisors are positioning themselves to provide tax, risk management, wealth management, and contract preparation services to this flood of sellers. You may be in your 40s and 50s and maybe thinking that this doesn’t apply to you. After all, you have plenty of time. However, the answer to that question is another question: then why buy life insurance? Anything can happen to any of us at any time. Exit planning is another form of insurance— just as you are making sure your family is being cared for, don’t you want the same for your business and employees? There are many additional benefits to starting exit planning early— the process of getting your business transition ready means making it more attractive to investors. That includes, but is not limited to: maximizing revenue, lowering expenses, increasing efficiencies, eliminating owner-centric processes, getting the business modernized, up-to-speed, and more profitable. All of these will have tremendous benefits for you and your company regardless of your exit timing. Examining the strengths and weaknesses of the business, IT systems, management team, and customer base are good continual improvement practices that make the company more profitable in the short-term and make it much more attractive for a potential buyer. How to Plan Your Exit? A successful transition starts by determining the planned date of exit and the post-tax proceeds required from the business to satisfy the owner. The target proceeds should be achievable in the chosen time frame. If they are not, you can extend the time frame or reduce the financial goal. After determining schedules and financial information, there are essentially three options on whom will take over as an owner: a family member, an internal team sale, or a third-party sale. Discussions with accountants, attorneys, financial planners, and others likely feel similar to a complicated maze that makes you not even want to start the process. A trained advisor will help initiate the process and will engage in constant communication with all of the parties listed above, with your control of the process remaining intact. The most effective and efficient approach to exit planning is to select a single professional who can manage all the others involved. Creating new entities or sale agreements is pointless unless the tax implications are first understood. Planning to reduce the impact of income taxes may be rendered moot if a company is not in a position to sell. Putting the company up for sale may be a disaster if an owner doesn’t understand what buyers are looking for and how much they’re willing to pay. Not only will this process determine the best options for your eventual exit from your business, but it also provides a screenshot of the company. It helps to identify areas of the organization that can be improved and what we can outsource to others to achieve the highest sale value possible. Eventually, the planning also leads to a smooth transition, operationally, so that your business continues to be run in the best manner possible by new leadership. When to Start? Retiring Boomers will outnumber GenXers reaching ownership age by 4,000 a day! Studies show that the generation reaching retirement age is 2.5 times more likely to want to own a business than those in their 30’s and 40’s. Thus, this severely limits the small-business buyers in our economy today. It often takes a minimum of 5 years to develop most succession and exit plans—a more realistic number might be as much as ten years. Time and potential buyers will likely be the two most significant challenges for you in this process. Once you have a plan in place, you can implement it whenever you chose. Why wait until it is too late? Get the conversation started with the correct parties now. Are you ready? The single largest transaction and transition of your life deserves special attention. Are you planning to exit
Should You Expect a Thank You Note After the Interview?
Last April, Jessica Liebman, the Executive Managing Editor of Insider Inc., had the sheer audacity to suggest in a Business Insider article that she has a simple rule when she is hiring. “We shouldn’t move a candidate to the next stage in the interview process unless they send a thank-you email.” Liebman went on to state that bringing someone into your company is always risky. However, a thank you email (not snail mail – too slow) signals a candidate’s motivation and desire for the position and generally means they’re a “good egg.” There are only so many data points one can collect in an interview, she reasoned, that sometimes the thank-you note will make the difference in the selection of candidates. She further clarified and stated, “To be clear, a thank-you note does not ensure someone will be a successful hire. But using the thank-you email as a barrier to entry has proved beneficial, at least at my company.” So it makes sense, right? Nope. Unfortunately, it is 2019, and social media and the Twitter-verse went into hyperdrive to condemn her and her statements. Other hiring managers, reputable organizations (SHRM and LinkedIn), and publications joined the fray, with several siding in large part with those who disagreed. It got so bad, Liebman followed up with another article cheekily titled, “Thank you for reading my story about thank-you notes!” a few days later to clarify what she meant. Many people were seemingly offended that anyone would actually “require” sending a thank you note after an interview. She went on to explain she was trying to be helpful and shed some light and that, “The biggest factors we consider are a candidate’s talent and fit for the role.” It was a “rule of thumb” and not official company policy. What were the disagreements and the outrage with Jessica Liebman’s piece on sending thank you notes? Thank you notes are antiquated and pointless [apparently not to her and the many hiring managers and business leaders we talk to daily here at BEST]. Thank you notes are to stroke the ego of the interviewer. Seriously? The application and job description said nothing about sending a thank you. Liebman’s response was priceless on this point, “Neither is being on time to the interview.” Our favorite? Expecting a thank-you note is elitist and shows discrimination and bias because many people have never been taught this skill. Diversity is critical to any organization today. Different perspectives can lead to increased creativity, innovation, productivity, better decision-making, and a better work environment and culture, among many other benefits. However, we have never seen it be used as an excuse not to be courteous and to say thank you. Laziness would be a better excuse. After all, especially in a customer-facing role, would you want anyone on your team that doesn’t know how to say thank you? But it’s a candidate’s market. They [interviewer] should be sending the candidate a thank you. Liebman conceded this point somewhat in that all companies need to do a better job notifying candidates and letting them know why they did not get the position. Point well taken, and it is also something we strive for at BEST. A lot of the outrage on this could be the times we live in – where being contrary on social media is expected and merely aiming for “likes” and that all-important re-tweet. Indeed, social media can help us all whittle down the candidate pool. However, at BEST, we can only speak to our own experience working with clients and candidates and heartily thank those who disagree (because it is indeed helpful). As business leaders, hiring managers, and recruiters, it is often about overcoming buyer’s remorse. When a hiring manager or company leader is getting ready to make a hiring decision, they want that one thing that can put a candidate over the edge and calm their fears about making a bad hire. In talking with a client last month, he mentioned that he really liked the candidate, but he had not yet seen a thank you email. The next day he did without our prompting, and the job offer went out shortly after that. To the client, it was expected as well as another box to check. For the candidates we work with, our resources stress the importance of the thank you email. A candidate should always ask for the interviewer’s email address during the interview (whether on the phone or in person). Rarely, if ever, has it been questioned. After all, it is another opportunity to sell yourself to the prospective company. It doesn’t have to be a long note— say thank you, say that you want the position, and use it also to state why you are the best fit for the role (one or two reasons you are the best candidate for the job or maybe there was something you missed during the interview) and would welcome further discussion. Then, send it within 24-hours while you are still fresh in the interviewer’s mind. Where is the controversy in that? When we were hiring an intern at BEST last year, we had three strong candidates, all with equal skills, talent, and fit for the role. The deciding factor? One candidate went over and above and sent us all a personalized thank you email. He was hired and then became a permanent fixture on our team and has been very successful to date and has a bright future. The difference? His thank-you email. As record low unemployment continues and less skilled workers are available for more increasingly skilled open positions, there are already hiring and employment trends that would have been unthinkable just five years ago. So, as we enter the holiday season, a time for giving thanks and reflection, here is hoping the time-honored thank you note is not one of them. Thank you for reading, and thank you, Jessica!
Be an Investor When Recruiting and Hiring
Who you hire is one of the most important decisions and investments you can make in your business. However, recruiting and hiring today is more important than finding a person with the right skills and qualifications. Do the candidates fit our culture and strategic vision? Do they share our values and have the right behaviors to make them successful and provide your company a long-term return? Will they still be around in 5 years? Warren Buffett is considered to be one of the most successful investors of all time and is currently the third wealthiest person in the world. Regardless of one’s opinion of the “Oracle of Omaha,” it is hard to argue with his amazing track record of success. As the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has inspired millions, while making billions through a philosophy of investing that can also be applied to successful hiring practices in your business. Aside from utilizing financial ratios and other analytical tools to find undervalued companies he can invest in, there are other key considerations that Buffett and many other successful investors look for before making a decision. Never compromising on business quality, taking the long view, and listening to those you know and trust, to name a few hallmarks of Buffett’s investment strategy. Could thinking as an investor also be applied to hiring? After all, when recruiting and hiring a person to join your company, you are making a major investment. That same hire can often be critical for the future success of the company. Time, training, compensation, benefits and other “rewards” for the people you employ are your investments in growing your business and making a return. In today’s low-unemployment, low-retention “candidate’s market,” approaching recruiting and hiring as an investor may make the difference and lead to better decision-making in this critical area. Never Compromise on Quality “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.” – Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway was originally a textile manufacturer when Buffett first took control in 1962. He later stated that entering the textile business was one of his worst trades ever but kept the name. That experience taught Buffett that “you get what you pay for.” He was no longer interested in buying something at a bargain in the hope of getting a nice short-term return, especially when the long-term prospects for the business look terrible. He chose a path of “value investing,” in which he looks for prices that are low compared to their actual or future worth and often overlooked by other investors. Never compromising on quality can also be applied to hiring. For example, Candidate A is a high-quality candidate that matches all of the skills, qualifications, experience, behaviors and cultural alignment needed for great success in the position. “A” checks off all of the boxes, has been thoroughly screened and you can see a bright long-term future. Candidate B also has many of the same skills and qualifications. “B’s” behaviors and culture fit were not as strong and the references not as glowing, nor was there a projected long-term future with the company. Here’s the kicker— “B” wants 20% less in salary than “A.” How many would automatically gravitate to Candidate B because they felt they were saving the company money or had to stick to a budget? Quality investments yield high returns and increase in value over time, similar to Candidate A in our example. How does this apply to value investing? Candidate B will inevitably cost the company more over time and return less due to low engagement, poor cultural fit and eventual turnover – in other words a lot more than the 20% saved in Candidate A’s compensation. As Buffett has stated, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Taking the Long View Once asked how long he would hold a high-quality investment he made at what was considered a reasonable price, Buffett answered, “Our favorite holding period is forever.” Embracing a “buy and hold” investment philosophy, many of his investments have been held for decades. Buffett and investors care more about the future price than the value it was on the day it was purchased. As a business leader, you should care more about what a new hire can bring you a few years into the future instead of having them be able to “hit the ground running” and automatically start making returns on day one. Look for those candidates who are quick learners and can innovatively solve problems. They are the ones that have the experience and behaviors that will help them integrate quickly into your company and excel in the future. Smart investors also continue to invest – just as companies need to keep investing in their people. While you may not have the budget to increase their compensation, look for other ways to invest in your new hires and current top talent and leadership. In a recent Udemy “Workplace Boredom Report,” 46% of employees are looking to leave their companies because of a lack of opportunity to learn new skills, and 80% agree that being given more opportunities to learn new skills would make them more interested and engaged in their work. Do you offer continuing education, seminars, training programs and other developmental programs that will keep your employees learning new skills? There is a measurable ROI to upskilling your employees, and often it is in the form of productivity gains, increased engagement, more profitability and reduced turnover. Listen to Those You Know and Trust “Management changes, like marital changes, are painful, time-consuming, and chancy.” – Warren Buffett Warren Buffett has always noted the importance of only investing in competent and trustworthy management teams. He knows that when he selects partners or managers, their actions and decisions will be felt for many years. As a business leader, you too must be cognizant of selecting competent and trustworthy people to join your organization. They could have a