A Few Post-MLK Day Articles

Hope that everyone who was off yesterday had a nice day off and everyone who had to work didn't have too bad of a Monday. As we all exercise our ability to be part of this workforce, we can thank people like Martin Luther King Jr. and others who made this opportunity possible for us. Even those who are out of work can certainly take a day to reflect and that's the important part of holidays like yesterday.

HR.BLR takes it one step further and says that MLK Day should be an opportunity for workplaces to celebrate diversity and instead of talking about how we're all the same, talk about the unique ways in which we are different. Everyone brings something to the workplace and having diverse backgrounds is one way to help build a successful organization.

The New York Times has a story about some Starbucks workers in New York City who took the holiday to celebrate...and then to protest. If you're trying to argue for some sort of equality, MLK Day seems like a good occasion to do so, even for baristas.

Lastly, from the Boston Globe JobDoc, some advice on handling a canceled interview. Although this information is for the candidate, a lot of advice can be extracted for the interviewer in how they handle their interview cancellations.

Complying With The Rooney Rule

This headline ran across the USA Today website today: Redskins say they 'over-complied' with Rooney Rule; Roger Goodell confirms it. What is the "Rooney Rule" and how can you "over-comply" with it? And why are we writing about this on a Human Resources blog? Let's explore.

First, let's define the "Rooney Rule". From Suite101.com:

The Rooney Rule is named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney and was established in 2003. With an eye towards balancing minority candidates with other hires, the rule mandates that all coaching searches interview at least one minority candidate. As of 2009, there are almost four times as many African American head coaches in the NFL than there were prior to the rule.

Seems pretty straightforward on the surface. In 2003 there was a lack of minority head coaches in the NFL and the league decided to institute a rule that every team must interview at least one minority candidate for head coach. Since then, the amount of African American head coaches in the NFL has grown, and the Rooney Rule, as ESPN.com wrote in 2007, was credited with opening the doors.

In June, the NFL extended the Rooney Rule to include openings for "general manager jobs and equivalent front-office positions" according to the Washington Post who explains this isn't always the case: "[The Rooney Rule] will not apply to a case in which a team's top front-office job is held or filled by the franchise's owner or a member of his or her family, or in a case in which a team has an existing contractual obligation to promote a member of its front-office staff."

So that's how we got to our headline today. Pro Football Talk Daily taped a segment that said they were concerned the Rooney Rule could not have been followed because the resignation and hiring of personnel chief Vinny Cerrato and hiring of Bruce Allen as the Redskins General Manager occurred within an hour. Now here's where the rule gets tricky. The Redskins say they have complied with the rule and cannot divulge the minority candidate(s) interviewed because it would not be fair to them. And the Commissioner Office has backed them up. So they will not face a fine for this infraction as other franchises have.

Some criticize the rule like the National League Policy Center calling it "Pro Football's Affirmative Action Deception". But many laud the rule like Brian W. Collins for the NYU Law Review and some are trying to extend the rule even further, especially to the college football ranks where minority head coaching hovers around 6%, as Michael J. Nichols writes in the Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal. Many of these leagues are worried they may face lawsuits if they do not do more to consider hiring minority coaches but they are getting push back about implementation from many levels.

Do you think that this is a good way to go about promoting minority hiring? Do you think a "good-faith interview" is enough or do you think that too many token candidates get passed over because of that? And how could this apply to other venues besides sports?

Blogroll Pt. 2

We're on to part 2 of 3 of reviewing our Blogroll here at Astron Solutions World of HR blog...

We start with Jim Stroud who changed the name of his blog from JimStroud to "The Recruiters Lounge" and has a new look and a new address but the same great information: click here

Also in recruiting is the Recruiting Fly Blog which today gives some diversity resumes and interview advice: click here

We have another WorldAtWork blog here for Ryan Johnson who has a lot of interesting topics including this one about Performance Reviews from a few weeks ago: click here

The HR Capitalist has a lot of interesting topics (Human Resources and not), but this recent one provides a scenario if the author had a few million dollars...they would aggregate references of a candidate: click here

And last on this list is the Industry Radar which has given us a few nice links on their website and has some great HR news on Benefits, Retirement, Health, among other topics: click here

HR Links Galore

We hadn't given you a lot of links in a while...and we at the Astron blog love to update you on what's going on around the US...so here you go:

A job outlook from the Providence Journal: click here

A pro-office romance article from the Gazette: click here

Word from the CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): click here

From the HRM Guide, word that few firms actually define diversity: click here

From Systematic HR...is it Job or Performance: click here

From HR.BLR, a bill to support employee verification: click here

From HR World, word that SHRM has backed this bill: click here

From the New York Times and Inc., word that diversity is unclear at small firms: click here

And lastly for today, from Forbes, word that most retirees will look for other jobs: click here

Enjoy!!!

We'll have more for you soon...trust me

HR going Green

Catching you up on this Wednesday starts with the 2008 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Green Workplace report...

First, from Environmental Leader, word that the study shows that half of workplaces surveyed have a formal or informal environmental responsibility policy...but 43 percent do not and have no plans of implementing one in the next 12 months: click here

From the Washington Post, on the same report, says that environmentally friendly practices make for a happier workplace: click here

From HR.BLR, word the The Society for Human Resources Management is launching a campaigning to show the importance of HR: click here

Lastly, going back to the Washington Post, a study finds that most diversity training is ineffective: click here

Diversity

The key buzzword is back again with this Q&A from the Boston Globe's BostonWorks Hiring Hub with three trends in corporate diversity: click here

Next, on to the New York Times where they say that for a franchise, success is in the hiring: click here

The New York Times also has some advice for how to lose your job on your own time: click here

One more from the New York Times talking about the role of life coaches: click here

We go to our new link-partner HR Daily Advisor who says that now your worst moments are on YouTube: click here

Lastly, we go to one of our fellow bloggers with an article about Human Resource Management: click here

Talking About the Past

Diversity Inc. ends our recent theme about leaving jobs with some advice about how to answer the interview question of "why did you leave that last job"? click here

Next, Human Resource Executive Online has a review of what happened in the year 2007 in the world of Human Resources: click here

We also have an article from Smart Money that Facebook profiles can spoil job searches for some people when HR professionals do background checks (a past Astronology topic): click here

The New Jersey Star-Ledger says that staffing during the holidays can often be a slippery slope: click here

Lastly, from Spousebuzz.com, word that changes are coming for military pay systems: click here

De Paris

Women and Minorities Targeted to Fill Executive Suites, According to International Executive Search Organization

Industry Experts Recently Met in Paris to Discuss the Anticipated Executive Shortfall Crisis Throughout the World Due to Baby Boomer Retirement

PARIS – Women and minorities are the coveted demographic for executive search firms throughout the world to help meet the critical talent shortage at the top due to Baby Boomer retirement, according to industry experts who recently met in Paris to discuss this burgeoning issue.

More than 50 delegates from IMD International Search and Consulting, an organization of boutique executive search firms with locations in 25 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia, gathered for a biannual conference in Paris in late November, where they discussed the phenomenon.

“In terms of age, origins, gender… there is a need to open the doors to new profiles and how organizations will manage to deal with the problem,” said Albert Hiribarrondo, chairman of the IMD International board, representative from France and managing partner of Sirca/IMD.

As the critical talent shortage worsens and nearly 80 million Baby Boomers in North America alone enter their retirement years, executive search leaders from throughout the world discussed the pressing question: Who will take their place in the executive suite?

“We must find ways to bring more women and minorities into management ranks, mentor them and give them the ability to then rise in upper management positions. Again, 30 percent of the current executive suite will be retiring within five years, it is a huge percentage, and we don't have anyone replacing them,” said Thomas Fuller, one of IMD International’s seven board partners, director of the Americas and general managing partner of Epsen Fuller/IMD based in New York.

The Paris conference included a dual celebration and gala dinner in honor of IMD International’s 35th anniversary and the 30^th anniversary of the host firm, Paris-based Sirca/IMD.

The critical demand for senior level executives led these industry thought leaders to meet and discuss how the corporate world will deal with changing demographics, organizational transformation, talent acquisition and diversity in the executive suite.

“To win the talent war we need to explore targets previously untapped. One of the largest targets is the female in management. Only two percent of the CEOs in the UK are female,” said Sherilyn Shackell, CEO of Highfield Human Solutions/IMD of the UK, and IMD Board partner.

“There must be an evolution in minds, in families and in society. Mothers must educate their daughters and tell them that things are open for them. The first step is the awareness that things have to change in order to tap into this phenomenal potential. My daughters grow up with this belief that they can behave the way men do, expect what they do, and be just as influential,” Shackell added.

Just 10 of the CEOs among the Fortune 500 companies were women in 2006, and only 20 Fortune 1000 companies had women as their leaders.

“Japan is notorious for not promoting ladies,” said Katsusuke Yokota, executive managing director of Human Associates in Japan. “Nevertheless, more talented women are now joining international companies that treat them more and more equally.”

While the lack of women at the top was echoed by the IMD partners from Italy, Japan, Korea and Germany, others said the trend seems to be moving toward more females in the executive suites in Spain, Denmark and Mexico. In Finland, the numbers are equal.

“In Finland women are considered as equal. Lots of money is put into the education system, in society it is normal that men help at home, but we still don't have enough women at top management positions, maybe because women are different in their behavior, they are not into competition as much as men, a female network is mostly composed of females,” said Mimma Silvennoinen, managing partner of IMS Talent in Finland.

At the Paris conference, IMD International announced the launch of a new global survey, “The Changing Face at the Top,” which will be released at its spring 2008 conference in New York as a follow up to its 2005 survey, “Mobility of Managers.” The survey will poll senior executives from the global 1,000 companies.

The baby boom generation is generally defined as the population born between 1946 and 1964. Employees in this demographic group range in age from 43 to 61, and are expected to begin leaving the workforce in 2008, as the first wave of boomers turn 62.

Paris was selected for the conference because IMD International’s Paris office, Sirca, is celebrating its 30^th anniversary and because of the city’s location at the center of Europe, where growth due to a robust economy is forcing corporations to confront the challenge of attracting talent to the executive ranks in the face of the world’s fast-changing demographics.

U.S. CONTACT: PARIS CONTACT:

Rosa Cirianni Estelle Carrere

rosa.cirianni@beckermanpr.com ecarrere@sirca.fr

(908) 781-6420 +33 1 44 55 33 55