The Two Traits Google Really Looks For In Employees Are Flexibility And Hustle

  The reason the article is getting so much attention is how surprising these facts may be to people who have little experience hiring/managing in technical fields. But I thought this quote was really telling: This article is getting some attention, because Google's VP for people operations at Google has made public a few insights that the Google HR team has come to over the last several years. The most surprising might be: They don't collect GPAs except for new candidates Test scores are worthless Interview scores weren't correlated with success. Brainteasers that Google is so famous for are worthless Behavioral interviews are the most effective  One of my own frustrations when I was in college and grad school...

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3 Reasons Why Men's Wearhouse Firing Its Founder Is Completely Bizarre

  Men's Wearhouse fired chairman and founder George Zimmer today, and we've never seen anything like it. The abrupt termination begs for answers about what could have happened. Here are three reasons why it's a bizarre story: 1. The terse press release. "The Board expects to discuss with Mr. Zimmer the extent, if any, and terms of his ongoing relationship with the Company," Men's Wearhouse said in the statement (see the full thing below). There is no polite mention of the founder's impact on the brand, as would be customary.  2. Shares and profits were gaining. The company just announced last week that profits were up a whopping 23%. Stocks have been consistently gaining over the past few years. This is not...

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Eight Things That Happen When Companies Are 'Too Nice'

  A recent column from fellow leadership author and Forbes columnist Erika Andersen caught my eye. Erika noted that bad things happen when companies are “too nice.” I enjoy Erika’s writing, and I’ve even enjoyed the chance to review her most recent book here on Forbes. I love the work that Erika and her team are doing. But with tongue in cheek, as the CEO of a company that is often chided for being way too nice, perhaps, for our own or anyone’s good, I feel the need, along with my fellow leaders, to respond. Politely. Here’s the statement from Erika’s article about useful rules of the road on honesty that compelled me to write this rebuttal: ...

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Recruitment Process Outsourcing ~ How to Get More Done in Less Time

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How "Talent Clusters" Will Help You Win A Sustainable Future

The old systems are broken. The Internet changed everything. Looking forward, we need to cultivate fluid organizations, powered by innovative, multidimensional people. I am a fan of Steve Denning, author of Radical Management: Reinventing the Workplace for the 21st Century (Jossey-Bass, 2010) and regular contributor at Forbes. In his recent article, "The Management Revolution That's Already Happening," he writes: "In the 20th Century, firms had often been successful by following the precepts of hierarchical bureaucracy: 'focus on making money'; 'tell employees what to do'; 'control performance through rules, roles, plans and reports'; and 'achieve efficiency through economies of scale.'" In the last quarter of the century, corollaries were added: “focus tightly on maximizing...

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4 Job Hunting Tips From The Grandfather Of Career Advice

When Dick Bolles first published What Color Is Your Parachute? in 1970, he had no idea the outsize impact his career guide would have. “I never dreamed the job hunting problem was so widely faced. The book would have sold ten copies if you got the help you needed at school.” Instead, the job-seekers’ bible has gone through 42 annual editions, sold 10 million copies in 20 different languages and, in 1994, was named one of the 25 books that “have shaped readers’ lives” by the Library of Congress. Dick Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute? Bolles himself remains firmly on the job at 86, spending roughly four hours a day doing research and answering each and every one of the 6,000 e-mails and letters he receives each...

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"Slowly I Turned...Step by Step...Inch by Inch..."

What's the best way to build a great company, launch a new product, or advance your own career? Try this chili recipe: Low and slow makes for maximum flavor. Here's the problem with gradual: It's chronic, insidious, and subtle. The newspapers report that more than half of all Americans are overweight. I can tell you how we got that way: one french fry at a time. We didn't foul the Love Canal in a week. That took a generation of dumping chemicals. Your company didn't hire 30 or 100 or 1,000 noncontributing employees all at once. That took years. The problem with gradual is that we don't notice the damage until the damage is extreme. People have no trouble opening their hearts and their wallets to hurricane victims, but we often don't take the time to help a community that's...

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A Body Language Can Make or Break Your Job Interview

At present competitive job market requires you to continuously evaluate yourself while looking for career opportunities. Studies have shown that over 70% of our communication is non-verbal and most of our reactions through body language are involuntary and hard to control consciously. Even well-trained specialists and poker players cannot control their body language the whole time and reveal over and over again their emotions and thoughts. The one who can read this little signs can easily find out the truth and see if the candidate is an imposter are has real talent.Nowadays nearly everyone is using many impressive words to make themselves look bigger and much more important as recruiter or HR specialist reading a CV or in an interview with...

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Five Ways To Motivate Yourself At Work

Be with go-gettersTo motivate oneself, you need to surround yourself with achievers. If you have a few top performers in your friends' list, you can't help but be motivated. Kumar has a large friends circle of super achievers, business owners, singers, actors, sportsmen, and she believes that just a phone call with them, or a coffee with them pumps in the inspiration and motivation that lasts days and has a positive impact on her performance. People don't choose their company wisely. Having a good personal rapport with your seniors and bosses or even senior colleagues from other or-ganisations keeps you motivated. These are real people and their success and drive inspires and fuels your own. Keep the company of achievers and you will see the impact in your own performance.Set your own benchmarksAcknowledgement...

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