I’m a Big Ol’ Liar – Orientation Guest Post Instead

I know, I know. I said “the Plan” would be coming out today BUT…

a) The weekend got away from me and I haven’t written it yet.

b) My guest post was published! I want to tweet about that and get that some notice first. SmartRecruiters, and in particular Lexie Forman Ortiz (@LexieFO), took a chance letting me write for them AT ALL, let alone about a topic that isn’t about recruiting. The least I can do is plug that as much as possible.

Here’s the link to the SmartRecruiters blog:

http://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/5-tips-for-getting-new-employee-orientation-right/

Please enjoy. ”The Plan” will be revealed later in the week. Cross my heart!

Change Doesn’t Take Time – It Takes Change

9 Replies

My life has been through some great changes recently and I think it’s got me hooked on the whole concept of change now. I’m jonesing for more change.

A Brief Recap

In May 2011, I was in pain. I had 2 ruptured discs in my neck and ended up having major surgery. That summer kinda sucked.

In May 2012, I was in a different kind of pain. I was severely depressed and having panic attacks and afraid to tell anyone about it. My family, friends and coworkers knew I’d suffered depression for years but it had gotten markedly worse in April/May and I didn’t want anyone to know that part. I thought they’d be worried that I’d do something awful and irreparable, even though nothing like that EVER crossed my mind. I was in pain though and suffered largely in silence. Last summer definitely could’ve been better.

Now it’s May 2013 and life is AMAZING. I’ve made great progress in school and I can see the finish line, somewhere. I have a new-ish and fantastic job that is a PERFECT fit for me. I love the people I work with, I get to wear sweatpants/no pants about 80% of the time, and still be bossy and a perfectionist. My family and friends are doing well. My $$$ is doing well. My depression is under control. I have quit smoking for a while now. Life is good. Change is good.

What Happened?

Did it take a year for all this change to happen? No, it’s taken 4 months and 13 days. How do I know that? Because I started this blog on January 4th. Unemployed at the time, I wanted something to occupy my time and learning more about HR seemed a good start since that was my field and I was basically faking it…or that’s how I felt. Since then, this blog has been received warmly among people who clearly AREN’T faking it. I’ve been invited to do guest posts for other blogs (will change link to my post once it’s published) and awesome people have assisted with mine. I’ve met lots of new people, become more involved in my local HR and business scene, and “met” thousands more on Facebook and Twitter. HR Rock Stars. I have met some in real life, others I know I will one day, and some have become great confidantes, advisers and friends. Remember when I said HR was a big ol’ clique? Still true. But when I said they were friendly and welcoming, I had no idea what an understatement that was.

The Change Process

How did I accomplish this? Did it happen naturally and without any effort from me? Absolutely not. I butted in. I interjected in Twitter conversations I found interesting, I commented on blogs, I asked total strangers for advice and opinions, and totally crashed that party. Was it always comfy for me? No. I am still intimidated by these rock stars since I have no degree (yet) and I’m only informally studying HR. Why should the talent acquisition chief from Expedia ever talk to me? Guess what? He did. He does. You’re not reading this, but just in case…hi Jer! (Honestly, when I reached out to him on LinkedIn, I thought he was someone else, but whatever. He’s cool. There’s a pic of him wearing a cape on my FB timeline, so he’s clearly odd, which is EXACTLY the type of people I like to be on my FB.) There were a few moments of awkwardness with some people but for the most part, it wasn’t too bad. Stepping out of my comfort zone, not into a neutral gray area of I-don’t-give-a-damn-ness, but into active discomfort has achieved great results.

Now What?

Is my life perfect right now? No. I am still woefully overweight and out of shape…not beating myself up over this, though, cause I did quit smoking, so yea. I want to add more value to my company, so I’m trying to learn accounting and more HR this summer. I’m not quite done with school yet so there’s still some work to be done there. My dad and I are talking, but there’s an elephant in the room we haven’t addressed. I’m not going to link to it, but regular readers will know what that is. I haven’t spent enough time with my local friends or talking to my distant ones (my real, non-HR people). My apartment is a disaster. I need to floss more. You know, the usual. It’s time for some more change.

People say change takes time. No, it doesn’t. It takes change. Real, actionable, quantifiable CHANGE. I look at my life right now and where I was 4 months and 13 days ago and it could not be more different. So that’s my new project — the next three and a half-ish months.

I have a few weeks now before summer school starts. Then 2 months of school and another few weeks of freedom. On Labor Day, I want to look back and say, “I remember that day…sitting on my boss’s sofa at the ass crack of dawn because she accidentally scheduled herself a flight so early not even Superman would put up with that BS, blogging while her daughter slept, about to get her ready for school — and look how much my life has improved since then.” Rolling over and watching Buffy till I fall asleep right now, though tempting and guaranteed to be awesome, is not going to bring about the change I’m seeking. That’s the old path; I already know where that leads. I’m on a new path now.

I didn’t have a plan 4 months and 13 days ago and I still accomplished a lot…with some luck, some great friends/family, and some innovative interrupting, if you will, on my part. This time I do have a plan and I am looking forward to BIG RESULTS and BIG ACCOUNTABILITY from you guys! So what’s the plan? What are my goals between now and Labor Day – and how do I intend to achieve them? Ahh. Check back on Tuesday and all will be revealed.

Have a great weekend everyone!! I’m starting my plan immediately!! – HRGF

ERISA Part 2: The Return – With Guest Andrew Douglass

Leave a reply

My wonderful friend Jeremy Bordelon was kind enough to answer some basic ERISA questions for me a while back. You might say he gave me just enough rope to hang myself. He really freaked me out about how much of this I don’t know — and don’t understand even when it’s being explained to me. I feel like, should I ever become some kind of HR bigwig at a huge firm, I’m going to inevitably be led away in handcuffs to ERISA jail. What’s worse, rather than some evil mastermind, I’m going to come across as one of those idiots on TV who didn’t even realize they were pregnant. I’ll be screaming, “But I didn’t know!” while they throw me in a cop car. Ugh.

Probably not the bra, but the rest, I assume, will be remarkably similar to this.

That’s where my new friend Andrew Douglass comes in. He is also an ERISA attorney and offered to answer more questions for me. Jeremy gave me just enough info in Part 1 to have more questions and now I’ve been somewhat reassured by Andrew in Part 2. Read on for ERISA Part 2: The Return…if you dare.

My attorney friend, Jeremy Bordelon, answered a few questions in my first post. I know ERISA started out as a way to benefit employees, but it sounds like a nightmare now. How did anyone ever think this was a good thing?

The enactment of ERISA was, in large part, a response to tragic events during the 1960s when employer bankruptcies wiped out pension plans, retiree medical coverage, and other benefits without any recourse for the affected employees. In 1974, Congress responded by creating, for the first time, a comprehensive framework to provide greater protections to employees and more certainty to employers in sponsoring their benefit plans. Of course, there are still tensions between employers and employees with respect to their benefit plans, but I think ERISA has generally been very successful in its stated aims.

The 5 points he made about denial of health and disability claims – those seem completely punitive and unreasonable. If my bone cancer treatment is denied and I lose my leg, then find out it wasn’t supposed to be denied, there is NO RECOURSE?! Has ERISA been hijacked by insurance lobbyists? How did this come to be this way?

In my view, ERISA has not been hijacked by insurance lobbyists or any other special interest groups. Instead, I think ERISA has matured significantly since its enactment in 1974. For example, a recent development in the last few years is the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Amara v. CIGNA, in which the Court allowed employees to pursue equitable remedies against their employers if they could prove they were provided misleading information about their benefit plans. The Amara decision will be huge in the coming years in situations similar to the one you posited in your hypothetical example. Well that’s a relief!!

The “ERISA test” about highly compensated employees – can you explain to me how that’s an issue to begin with? If employees have an opportunity to contribute and be matched up to 6% of their salaries, for example, and everyone does…obviously the CEO is going to have a higher 6% than the receptionist. I’m obviously misunderstanding something here because that seems too obvious to be a problem.

One of the goals of ERISA is to ensure that broad-based retirement plans do not discriminate in favor of highly-compensated employees. In tandem with various testing provisions in the tax code, ERISA generally requires a retirement plan to have minimum “coverage” (i.e., the categories of eligible employees cannot be skewed in favor of highly-compensated employees) and to provide non-discriminatory benefits. In response to your hypothetical, a uniform contribution for all employees (when expressed as a percentage of compensation) is generally non-discriminatory. This is the case even if, as you noted, a highly-compensated employee ends up with a higher contribution when expressed as a dollar amount.

I asked Jeremy what else I should know to have a reasonable understanding of ERISA and he responded with the truly terrifying (from an HR perspective) tale of Krohn v. Huron Memorial Hospital. How would you answer that question? What other finer points should I know?

It takes many years to fully understand ERISA’s detailed statutory scheme. I’ve been working in the employee benefits world for 18 years, and I’m still learning new things. My recommendation is to talk with as many people in the benefits world as possible. Make a point to sit down with an actuary, benefit plan auditor, investment advisor, or other benefits professional as often as possible. You’ll be amazed at how your understanding of ERISA will increase!

My chief takeaway from all this — all kidding aside — hire a lawyer. Always.

Anything else you’d like to add re: ERISA?

There are tons of free resources available to HR professionals that explain the requirements under ERISA, the tax code, and other laws that apply to employee benefit plans. For example, the DOL and IRS have both, in recent years, expanded their websites and outreach programs to provide information geared to both employees and employers regarding benefit plans.

W. Andrew Douglass has been practicing law in employee benefits and executive compensation matters for 13 years. Prior to becoming an attorney, he worked as a pension actuary for a large public accounting firm. There can be no doubt, now though, that he is an ERISA nerd through and through. His words, not mine. His favorite TV show of all time is The Wonder Years. Excellent choice! “I’ve always related to Kevin Arnold and the ups and downs that came with growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. That said, there was no way I was cool enough as a kid to have Winnie Cooper as a girlfriend!” When he goes to a non-buffet Chinese restaurant, he orders off the “secret” menu because he’s cool like that…or actually, spicy, like that.

His official bio can be found at: http://www.seyfarth.com/W.Douglass, or you can reach him on Twitter: @theERISAguy. See? ERISA nerd. I believe I shall keep him on speed dial for when I need bail money in ERISA jail.

Losing a Job Before the Interview – Facebook No No’s

Leave a reply

Hola all! While I was out for finals week, other people were kind and generous enough to surprise me with offers of guest posts! I LOVE THAT. It’s like the Tooth Fairy for grown-ups! In case any of you are wondering, I definitely accept guest posts. Email me or contact me on Twitter if you have some ideas. In the meantime, enjoy this excellent post about cleaning up your Facebook during a job search from Jeri Johansen, PHR.

Hope you’re all having a great week! I am! – HRGF

Facebook. People either love it or hate it. One thing’s for sure, its popularity can’t be beat – Facebook has now surpassed Google as the most visited site in the U.S. with over a billion users. It didn’t take long for employers to understand that a lot of information can be learned about prospective employees from their Facebook page. While those pictures of you doing a keg stand provide a great memory of a great party, recruiters are not usually amused by this activity.

Effective January 1st, 2013, new state laws make it illegal for some employers to demand access to their worker’s Facebook accounts, although that does not mean they won’t try to view them. It’s hard to believe that employers had been taking it upon themselves to demand employees’ social media passwords! This tactic just screams Title VII violation. Just think of the type of information an employer could possibly learn from your social media page: gender, race, religion, sexual orientation; the list goes on and on.

Whether or not hiring managers should use social media for employment screening, recent surveys show that about 37% do check Facebook before making a hiring decision. Below is some information to help you clean up your Facebook page before embarking on your post-graduate or post-layoff career search.

Facebook Privacy settings

Take the time to set up your privacy settings so that only “friends” can view your timeline. This may seem like a no-brainer, but if you restrict a lurker’s access to your information, it makes it all the more difficult to not only find you, but to dig up dirt on you.

Photos

Quite possibly the biggest indicator of a person’s “social media maturity” is their photo section. Would you be interested in going into business with someone whose first impression of themselves is a picture of them chugging a 40-ounce beer and making an explicit hand gesture? Yeah, neither would your future employer.

Status Updates

What you choose to share about yourself on a widespread social platform like Facebook says more about yourself than what you actually say. Constantly complaining about your life, putting other people down or stating controversial opinions with disregard to others’ feelings are all sure-fire ways to have strangers judge your personality before actually getting to know you. You had a bad day at work? Posting about it on Facebook makes it seem like you hate your job and could concern employers that you would bad mouth them as well.

Proper Grammar & Spelling

Not being an English major is no excuse for improper grammar or spelling errors. Profanity is another huge turnoff for employers, with 61% saying that they view the use of profanity on social media sites negatively. Maybe you have great things to say but you can lose your credibility if your spelling or grammar is off. Let’s review the following post: “Im so exsited for there company to schedule my inter-view”. Although you may mean well, this post could be viewed by the interviewer who may become “not so ecxsited” to schedule your interview.

This is my blog and I have a job already, so profanity is ok.

Likes

Your “likes” on Facebook can be extremely telling. While you may well be a fan of “Tattoos by Deviants”, it may come off as unappealing to some more conservative employers.

While changing or updating your Facebook profile is a good practice for job searching, it’s important to remember that nothing you post on the internet is ever completely hidden. I can still find pictures of myself that I posted during my “only cool people post self-timer shots of them alone in the bathroom” phase in high school. If in 10 years from now you think you could be embarrassed by the stuff on your social media page, don’t post it! You don’t want a profile picture or status update to be the determining factor between you and a competing candidate!

Jeri Johansen, PHR is an HR Blogger, Manager of Human Resources at Crimcheck.com, and Chair of the 2014 Northern Ohio Human Resource Conference (www.nohrc.org). She has never been skydiving but claims she would do it, if given the opportunity. Her favorite vacation is cruising around the Caribbean.

Crimcheck.com specializes in employment screening and background checks. You can follow Crimcheck.com on Facebook and Twitter also.

Dead Week and Finals – I Will Catch Y’all on the Flipside

2 Replies

HR Gal Friday’s brain can only hold so much info at once without risking that her Social Security Number or mom’s birthday will leak out of her ears and be lost forever. So, I’m closing up shop till after finals. Catch you guys on Wednesday! In the meantime, here’s a photo essay of what I think/hope my upcoming week will be like.

LOTS OF STUDYING AND WORK

A LITTLE SLEEP (CLEARLY THIS WOULD ONLY BE A DREAM)

THE EXAMS THEMSELVES

Pharmacology

French History

RELAXING AFTER (METAPHORICALLY)

Prevent Mistakes or Let Them Happen? – Also Dogs

1 Reply

Poor A.J. Clemente. He had the worst first day on the job EVER, recently, when he accidentally said some curse words over his microphone on the local news. That’s a pretty big mistake in the world of mass communications, so I understand why he was let go. I feel bad for him because he was probably so nervous, etc. but it was the right decision.

Also in the context of mistakes, I’ve been thinking about my dad’s dogs. (I swear I have a point here. Don’t leave me.) My dad has loved Boston Terriers (or Boston Terribles as they are sometimes affectionately called) since he was very young. Almost every dog he’s ever had has been a Boston, though we did have 2 poodle/mix strays come into our lives during my childhood.

Bostons are some of the most awesome dogs in the world. I have never seen a mean Boston; they are almost annoyingly friendly. They love attention and affection and will lavish you with kisses and licks till your pants get so stiff from drool they could stand by themselves. They are small enough to be lapdogs, but too big to be annoying purse dogs. I have had 3 fully grown Bostons jump into a chair with me once but that balancing act didn’t last long. They are super fun to aggravate with a laser pointer or play tug of war with a rope. And if you can get them in the right position in the bed (always a struggle because they are burrowers) they aren’t too bad to curl up and sleep with.

That being said, they are not the brightest creatures on this planet. They do have moments of cleverness, like when they used to take my dad’s laundry piece by piece out the doggy door and leave it all over the yard. That was amusing. But more often than not, I’m left looking at them and thinking “What on earth did you do that for?”

This is Rocky, one of dad’s 2 current Bostons. He’s the sweetest dog ever and so pretty with his one blue eye. No, he’s not deaf, just hard-headed. He went through a phase (of a year or two) where he was marking (read: peeing) all over the house from time to time. Not enough that it was a clear house-training issue, more like a deliberate marking. His fave things to mark? Dad’s shoes.

When I was staying there for a few days during my recovery from spinal surgery in 2011, I remember being in bed one morning and hearing what sounded like the dogs scratching on the door to get in my bedroom. I ignored. It persisted. I ignored more. It persisted more. I rolled carefully out of the bed in my neck brace and opened the door to see “snow” all in the bathroom, down the hall, into the kitchen, the living room and the den. Almost solid white with paw prints in it. The dog had found a bag of Epsom salts somewhere and dragged them through the entire house. The scratching was his paws (and Fanny’s, the innocent one) on the wood floors as they tried to maneuver a field of sharp rock salt granules on their bare feet. I found him on the sofa, licking his feet and looking so guilty I could have died. It would’ve been funny if I hadn’t had to clean all that up in a neck brace.

One day dad saw Rocky ‘mark’ the refrigerator and he’d had enough. He put him on Craigslist. Nothing came of it; I believe dad was just venting. Still, that dog seems to have a hard time learning. Dad recently started taking him outside in the front of the house since they live on a dead end road with very little traffic, and now that Rocky can mark more things out there, he does it much less in the house. I think that’s maybe what he was doing when this happened:

This is the back yard, but I feel like Rocky was investigating and trying to mark the new yard art, as it were. Dad was trying to trap, and I hope relocate, a fox who had been spotted by the neighbors several times and was becoming bolder. There are small kids and pets around there, so Foxy had to go. Dad used a ham bone for bait. First he caught a possum, and then he caught Rocky. I haven’t heard the whole story just yet, but I know Rocky couldn’t have been in there for too long because Fanny would have alerted someone. I even kind of wonder if my dad watched this happen and let it. I don’t blame him; I love this photo. And maybe Rocky, the hard-headed dog did learn not to meddle with everything? I doubt it. He’s a dog, but I guess it’s possible.

Between poor Rocky in the clink and poor A.J. Clemente’s 15 minutes of infamy, it made me think about the nature of mistakes. We all make them. But what do we do when we see someone else about to make them? I know Clemente’s mistake couldn’t have been prevented. No one saw that coming. But my dad probably saw the dog going for the trap. When is it ok to let a mistake happen (in work or life) in order to teach someone a lesson? Obviously we prevent small children from running into the street or grabbing things off the stove. Obviously we check behind the new payroll clerk so we don’t pay everyone a quarter of a million dollars an hour. But other, lesser mistakes…should they be prevented or allowed to play out?

Ignoring at all costs.

I feel like I have people in my life right now who are letting me make mistakes (in a good way) and I try very hard to consciously learn from them so I don’t repeat them. Sometimes I fear I’m going to be like that damn dog, though, and ignore the lessons. I hope not.

Thoughts?

(Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have seen some of these pics before. Sorry for duplicating. Those of you who don’t are welcome to follow – hrgalfriday there too.)

Fun Friday – I Got an Advice Question!!

7 Replies

You guys! I got my very first email asking for advice! I’m a guru!

(I’m totally kidding. I’m a college student and office manager. Take everything here as mere suggestions and feel free to tell me I’m wrong in the comments.)

Hi Dominique:

Thanks for the follow on Twitter. After reading your bio I thought that we might have a similar path.

I have been an Office Manager in the architecture industry for 22 years (20 with the same small business). The past few years I have taken an interest in HR – in wanting to help others succeed in the workplace, etc. Unfortunately, my current employment does not allow me to gain any HR experience as we have a solo HR person who is not really forthcoming. My Masters is in Organization and Management and I am not ready to spend a bundle more money for another degree in HR. Can you give me any advice on how you are organizing your self-study? I just joined SHRM and will start networking with the local chapter but besides that I am overwhelmed with where to start … so many twitter feeds, blogs, articles, etc. Are you focusing on a specific area? Not having HR experience I am not sure what area I would like best.

Thanks,

Dear K -

Thank you so much for writing me! This made my day!

I think we do have a similar path with the office manager/self-study bit, but we differ in that you have a LOT more education than I do. In fact, with a Masters in Organization & Management, I bet you already know a lot more than you realize. Do NOT go back to school and spend more money on an HR degree. (Anyone disagreeing with this opinion, please let me know in the comments, but I really think further spending in that area won’t get you the return on investment that you would hope.) Plus, you might delve further into this and hate HR. If you do some self-study and love it and want to become the world’s foremost expert, decide that later. For now, no.

Also, I know it’s super easy to get overwhelmed with the Twitter, blogs, articles, etc. Don’t stress too much over this. You’ll never read or absorb it all. Just take in what you can reasonably handle without stressing yourself too much. An article or two a day that you really absorb is better than 12 that you don’t. Also, the blogs aren’t so much actual lessons as people delivering different ideas and opinions. They are great, certainly, but you’ll want to start off with a knowledge base that will allow you to get more out of the blogs, the tweets, and endless stream of information on the internet.

I did a review of 2 iPhone apps that I currently have on my phone. I still use them and quiz myself when I get a moment. These have helped because they’ve given me insight into areas of HR that I didn’t even know existed, and thus am weak in. I never had to utilize them before. If you go that route, keep a pen/notebook handy and jot down some terms or laws that you don’t know. Even if you get the answer correct, if the term was unfamiliar, jot it down. They won’t teach you all the principles, but they’ll point out what you don’t know and you can research later.

When you look at the apps, or even just that post to find a list of the various areas of HR, follow the blogs/Twitter accounts of businesses in that area: benefits brokers, insurance companies, HR outsourcing, payroll companies, staffing agencies, recruiters, risk management, employment law firms, etc. Rather than individual people musing and giving their opinions, the businesses themselves often have blogs about laws, policies, and information that will count more as a lesson.

Some that I highly recommend: Winston Benefits, Insperity, Infinisource, My Back Office, Monster Thinking, Workplace Prof Blog, Winston & Strawn, LLP and Presidio Group. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start.

Also, joining SHRM was a great idea. I hope you joined your local chapter as well as national. National SHRM puts out HR Magazine, which has excellent articles and even if you don’t understand 100% of it, it will point you in an area that you can research more. Also, reach out to your local SHRM officers. I’m not sure how your chapter works but in Baton Rouge they have a general meeting approximately once a month. They may not have speakers lined up months in advance, but they generally have some idea of a topic a couple months ahead of time. It may be as general as “safety”, but you can ask about upcoming topics and study beforehand so you’ll be able to engage more fully in the meetings. The SHRM website also has good articles and chats where you can ask questions and engage with other people.

Also, I’d encourage you to try again with the HR person at your office or maybe even a little higher up. Do not approach this as you trying to do their job (or neglect yours), but just say you’re interested and feel that some cross-training would benefit the office. You’d like to learn enough to be the “emergency backup”. Not only will it help you learn a little more, it really will benefit your company. This person could become ill, take another job, get hit by a bus or win the lottery and leave you all in a lurch. This is especially true in a small office which has a smaller talent pool to draw from. There is no job on Earth that doesn’t need an emergency backup. They don’t need to know 100% — just enough to keep things from falling apart till everyone adjusts.

As for me, my plans for self-study have changed/evolved a bit. When I first started this blog in January, I had recently been unemployed and did this as a way to reach out, get more knowledge and not drive myself crazy at home with nothing to do. I’ve since taken a job with a content marketing firm that assigns me articles and blog posts to write for our clients, many of whom are in HR-related businesses. These require research and just doing that has taught me a lot. I know that’s a bummer to say since not everyone has the ability to do this on the job and it’s one of the reasons I’m suggesting you try again, as nicely as possible, with your HR person at work.

In the meantime though, I’m reading blogs, I’m researching for work, I’ve occasionally got guests on this blog teaching me things (and I need to do more of that). A delightful friend from Twitter, Liz Rominger, has agreed to loan me a SHRM PHR Learning System for the summer. They are very expensive and I cannot afford one on my own, however, they are much less than a degree in HR, so perhaps you can. Or maybe someone in your local SHRM chapter can loan you one. Maybe even your local library…I never thought to check there. You can even find older ones on eBay for a few hundred bucks less because they’re somewhat out of date. We all know healthcare has changed since 2009, but the general principles in the rest of the materials are still the same and you can (and should) study the PPACA from multiple resources elsewhere anyway. I wouldn’t go any older than 2009 – 2010, but that’s an idea. Anyway, I’ll be borrowing Liz’s learning system once I finish finals on May 7, through about Labor Day. I plan to go through the system in the order SHRM presents it and will post blogs on my progress.

I hope you’ll keep me informed of your progress as well! Hopefully we can learn from each other over the summer, but believe me, this is much more than a summer endeavor! HR Pros are required to get continuing education for a reason. Things change and the learning is constant. This will definitely not be an overnight process for either of us, but we’ll get there!

Take care and good luck with your studies!

-HRGF

Did I miss anything guys? Any additional advice you’d offer to K or advice of mine that was awful? Let me know!

A Novel Approach to Intern Recruiting from MasterCard

Leave a reply

I hate cash. I really do. I almost never use it and when I do, I always wonder if those bills were used for some type of nefarious purposes before they reached my hands. Snorting coke, tipping a stripper, handled by someone who works at the CDC and didn’t properly clean the Ebola off themselves…who knows? It’s gross.

What’s more, it’s inconvenient. A few years back a friend and I went to a concert at the New Orleans Arena and parked across the street at the Superdome. They gave us our ticket and we parked, went inside, and enjoyed the show without purchasing any beverages or food cause we had already eaten. We never looked in our wallets. It didn’t dawn on us until we were in the throes of the parking line that we’d now have to pay cash to be let out of the Superdome or be held hostage and delay hundreds of cars behind us. We scrambled through our purses, the seats of her car, and the floorboards — and came up $1 short. In her wallet, she had another $1 bill that she didn’t want to part with because a friend at her job had folded it into a perfect origami flower that she kept as a good luck charm. We had no choice though, and had to unfold that masterpiece to get out of the garage. I guess it was lucky we had it, but that seems like a poor reason to waste a good luck charm.

That’s right. Grandpa was a balla’ yo!

My family also tells a funny story about my grandfather returning from a vacation in the Netherlands. He took a cab home from the airport and did not realize until the driveway that he had not changed over any of his money yet. I think he was able to pay the fare with a credit card but had nothing but Euros to tip this poor cabbie in Shreveport, Louisiana. This isn’t DC or NYC where you can change that on any street corner. This would have inconvenienced that cabbie quite a bit to accept a tip in Euros. Instead, (and luckily) grandpa remembered that he kept an emergency $20 bill in a hidden compartment on the gas cap of his beloved faux-wood-paneled Buick Roadmaster station wagon/land yacht. The cabbie waited in the driveway while grandpa had to get into the garage and fish out a $20 bill that had been in the gas cap for God knows how long and probably smelled of petrol enough to give the cabbie a headache. See? Cash is gross and inconvenient.

That’s why, when I read an article on Ryan Estis’ blog about MasterCard Worldwide and saw they were holding an internship contest around the idea of a cashless society, my eyes lit up IMMEDIATELY. College students in the US, Canada, Italy, Turkey, China and Singapore will be developing ideas that might be implemented and lessen the need for gnarly paper money and stupid little coins. Some people gripe about Big Brother. Whatever. I say bring it on!! I can’t wait till I can pay for stuff with my retinas – and I bet these kids are going to have some GREAT IDEAS!

Add my bank balance and we have a deal.

In the spirit of learning more about this global internship contest and how a huge corporation like MasterCard Worldwide runs their internships, I reached out. Cut to – my teeny little blog here got an interview with Jen Cowan in HR at MasterCard!

Here’s our chat. Jen’s responses about #internswanted are in BOLD.

How did you select the 6 countries? Are those where the major MasterCard offices are located or were there other considerations? The six countries were not selected as much as they were the first to express interest in recruiting interns through this innovative social campaign method.

What do you prioritize in selecting interns? Creativity? Grades? What is in the mind of the selection committee or individual during this process? Overall, we like to see a well-rounded applicant. Our requirements are 3.0 GPA or higher, leadership experience, volunteer experience and demonstration of a work/life balance. All of these characteristics fall within MasterCard’s vision, mission and values.

Internships will be held in areas of emerging payments, technology, marketing, issuer management and product management. Apart from their major, how do you decide which team to place someone with? The interviewing process gives us the opportunity to learn more about the students and what their interests are. From there, the students interview with the team to see if there is good fit.

We’ve all heard HR horror stories of interns being tasked with not much more than fetching coffee and dry-cleaning. This sounds like a much more immersive process. What is a typical day like in the life of a MasterCard intern? We provide our interns with real life work experience. Our interns will work on real projects. At the end of the day, they can see how their efforts helped MasterCard as a whole.

Obviously the interns benefit from putting this experience on their resume and learning new skills and technologies in the corporate workforce. What does MasterCard receive in turn from the interns? The internship program provides us the opportunity to look at potential full time applicants. We use this program as a 10 week job interview to see if the intern would be a good fit for their group and MasterCard.

This is the 3^rd year that #internswanted has taken place, but the first year it’s gone global. Why now? Do you think including Millenials in Asia and Europe will give different viewpoints about the need for cashless societies? We have seen such success with the campaign in Canada that we wanted to expand into other areas. This provides the opportunity to consider different parts of the business and different skillsets.

Are there any plans to expand to South America, Africa or Australia in the coming years? Yes, these would be locations to consider in the coming years.

Is there anything that was done in the first years that’s been changed or deleted? Lessons learned from those programs that will make year 3 the best yet? In the past, we asked a very broad question for the applicants to answer for the creative submission. This year, we are asking a very specific question. From this, we should see some very exciting and creative submissions.

This process has been described as a 10 week job interview. There are approximately 5 winners in each country, right? Of those 30, how many do you estimate will be offered full-time employment with MasterCard upon graduation? If you come in and work hard, there are potential opportunities for full-time employment for post-graduation. Depending on business need, we will be able to determine our full-time offers. Stefan from Canada is a great example. He went through the program and is now a full-time employee.

Universally important.

What does an intern need to do to really shine and guarantee a job offer during those 10 weeks? To stand out at MasterCard, ask lots of questions, network, be well prepared, thought-provoking and punctual.

The application process includes a cover letter, resume’ and a creative/problem-solving element. “Applicants are asked to submit an idea for a product, system, app or techniques that can help people go cashless in the future. Successful candidates will validate their application through social media using #internswanted— the more likes and retweets, the better the chances for success.” Once selected, does the intern get to work on their idea at all or will they solely be working on other projects? At this time, the interns will be working on business specific needs that have already been identified.

I’m sure a lot of ideas the students have are creative, but not ultimately feasible. Do you encourage “out of the box” ideas or is MasterCard more focused on practicality? The #internswanted campaign provides us the opportunity to find those diamonds in the rough that are out of the box thinkers. The more creative the better.

What is the best advice you can give to an applicant to be successful in applying for this internship? Think BIG and think outside the box. You have the opportunity to show MasterCard why you should be one of our summer interns. Take the all the time you need to put your submission together. Be creative and have fun! If you have questions, reach out to the LinkedIn group for questions. We are here to help!

What is the best advice you can give to a winner to be successful during the internship? For any intern, I suggest being open-minded. Be open to feedback, ask a lot of questions and network as much as you can. You never know who may be looking for a full-time hire.

This sounds like a fun program and I’m sure the winners will be glad to participate. I was so thrilled to get to do this interview and it was very kind of them to answer my questions. I am incredibly grateful.

There is more information at MasterCard’s website. Even if you don’t plan to enter, the videos are cute. I recommend them highly.

The US deadline for entry was April 7^th. The other countries will be accepting applications soon. If you know a student in one of these other countries, I would encourage them to apply! It will be great on a resume, it sounds like they’ll learn a lot, and if they can help the world go cashless then godspeed!!

Many thanks to @MasterCardNews, @CashCowan and @MasterCardBecca for their assistance and to @RyanEstis for that original blog post!

Jen Cowan is MasterCard’s Campus Program Manager tasked with identifying top innovators for their College Programs. In addition to campus recruitment, Jen is helping to shape the social media platform for HR and recruiting. In her spare time, she is an avid tweeter, non-profit social media consultant, shopper and Food Network Groupie.

Sometimes Life Has Other Plans…

4 Replies

One of these days I am going to learn to not get too excited about things I think will be fun, and not get too down about things I think are going to royally suck. I often end up wrong about both.

Saturday I got my hair done, got a brow wax, got a manicure and a last minute bug up my butt to whiten my teeth, so I got some fancy 2-hour strips…all in preparation to take tons of pics with all my fave HR celebrities and network the hell out of people. It was not an inexpensive day but frankly the hair and the brows needed to be done anyway and were unavoidable. I was looking a little Dukakis there.

Saturday night was not what I had planned, but it was awesome. The few minutes I spent with some HR celebs in the restaurant while shoving food in my face were really fun, and tasty. Picking up the fellas at the airport was an adventure and they were fabulous. If I could only spend a little quality time with a few people there, Mike Haberman, Doug Shaw and Bill Boorman were good choices.

Then came the cut. What I thought was not that bad before I went to bed (at 5 am) was not that great in the morning (at 9 am). It eventually required superglue and a couple stitches. Nothing life-threatening but super inconvenient and painful. The tetanus shot was not fun either and the pain meds made me super queasy. Sunday through Tuesday was largely me sleeping like the dead, sitting around with my foot propped up, and occasionally experiencing some very unpleasant things…with the ball of my foot all taped up and me walking awkwardly on the outer side of my foot, as little as possible. The cut is kind of in a crease, so it shouldn’t even scar (which is good for future blisters, I’m told) and could have been way worse. I’ve had way worse happen to me (ACL injury, 2 ruptured cervical discs) and I can still see poor Kevin Ware’s injury in my head, so this was NOTHING, really, and I have no right to complain.

Still, less than ideal timing. I had a chance to hang out with Laurie Ruettimann and totally missed my chance to fangirl on her like I planned, I missed Janine and Doug from my Zombie Apocalypse team, William Tincup (and I remember we talked about it in the car but I don’t remember what the answer was…was he BORN with that last name?) plus British people! I’ve been watching Doctor Who and I was in love with all things British up until a certain character had to leave and now I’m just pissed. But I didn’t know that till last night! I would’ve been FINE over the weekend with the Brits!

I got excellent coverage of SHRM from all the tweets and blogs coming from there. I learned a lot and was entertained quite a bit, and wasn’t even there. If you haven’t done so yet, take a look through all the #lashrm13 tweets and Google it to read some great blogs.

In celebration of me possibly finally learning this life lesson, rather than aim for any “fun” activities next week, I’m going to try and see the dentist, the gyno and start training for my first 5k as soon as these stitches come out. If I get really crazy I might try and get a colonoscopy. I’m anticipating mild to moderate fun.

Keep ya posted!

-HRGF

PS – I believe the foot is doing well. Walking on it is less painful and it itches like a mofo. That’s a good sign, yes? Healing? Let’s hope so.

A Skirmish at SHRM-ish. Evening One.

4 Replies

Ok, so I ran around doing a million things today. Drove across the river to feed a friend’s cats cause she’s out of town. Got my hair done. Finished the greatest piece of art the world has ever seen, washed clothes, unpacked my trunk cause I realized the Brits would need room for their luggage, watched some Walking Dead cause I need to catch up to discuss with Janine Truett and other stuff I can’t even remember. Today has been a blur.

I arrived at Lucy’s Retired Surfer’s Bar & Restaurant around 8:15 pm. I was supposed to go pick up the Brits, Doug Shaw and Bill Boorman, at the airport at 8, but their flight was delayed. I had someone order me food before I arrived, ran in, met Lizzie Maldonado, Teela Jackson, Dwane Lay, Matt Charney, Robin Schooling, Bryan Wempen, Cat Carlos, Courtney Young, Jen McClure and all kinds of people. It was great. I scarfed my food like my life depended on it, despite that being the best shrimp and grits I have ever had EVER, right Lizzie?! Then I ran to pick up the Brits at the airport.

Oof. Couch to 5K starts next weekend, for SURE. In the meantime, it was a blast meeting all these people and reconnecting with the ones I already knew! So much fun!

When most of my friends fly into Louisiana, they go to New Orleans. I am much more familiar with the New Orleans airport than the Baton Rouge one. Also, it was nighttime and I don’t know where all the parking entrances and exits are, so I lapped the airport about 17 times. I saw the terminal with people just parked there in front of the doors but there were no spaces and cops everywhere and I didn’t know if that was allowed or what, so I just kept driving and driving and went the wrong way up some ramps a few times and I don’t even know. No, I have not had a single drop of alcohol tonight. I just hate this airport.

I finally figured it out and parked a grillion miles away. Walked into the airport carrying my amazing artwork, and trying to keep it from catching air. Then I get there and there are ZERO flights from Houston on the board. There are about 19 from Dallas but NONE from Houston. Now, the Baton Rouge airport only has 4 gates and 1 escalator anyway, so I wasn’t super worried about missing them within the airport, but I was briefly worried their flight had been diverted to NOLA. That has happened to me twice, for various reasons.

A lovely gay couple became enraptured with my sign and they took my pic for me. Then I went and sat near the escalator with my huge sign and just hoped that eventually I’d see someone. Doug came down the escalator waving his arms gleefully like a child. It was hilarious. Immediate hugs and cheek kisses all around. No, never met him, just know him from Twitter but it’s like we’re best buds already. I love Twitter. Then Bill came down waving also and we also hugged. I handed out Mardi Gras beads instead of leis. We walked to the front door and ran into Mike Haberman who had just landed and was attempting to get a ride to his hotel, so we scooped him up too.

The greatest piece of art the world has ever known. Move aside, Guernica.

I left the fellas there with the sign and ran to get the car. On the way to the car I realized that I had left my phone in my seat when I got up to hug Doug. My superawesome iPhone with its superawesome iPhone case WAS NOW GONE.

I flipped out which did not help me find the exit from the parking lot any faster. I actually attempted to drive out the entrance because it’s marked like 2 lanes go in and 2 go out, but no. I’m sure I’m on security footage now with people either laughing at me or tagging my plates to put me on some kind of list. Anyway. I finally got out of the parking lot, headed up to the terminal, parked way at the end and did not give a damn that a cop was standing right there. In fact, I asked him to guard my running car with my purse still in it by telling him I was picking people up but had left my phone. Luckily he was very nice and agreed.

Greatest phone case in the world, ammirite? You’d sprint into a state of asthma and angina for this too, don’t lie.

Sprinted inside, ran by the boys, told them to go find the car with the cop guarding it, and dashed for the escalator. Phone was still there. It was a SHRM miracle! I caught my breath while we waited for Doug’s bag to get off the conveyor, dropped Haberman at his hotel, drove the Brits to their hotel (an adventure in itself because almost all of downtown is one way and I was using Google maps with audio. That GPS bitch is an overachiever. Hello, I’m at a red light! You’re going 97 steps ahead of me and I can’t move!), they checked in, we took a pic with the sign (THAT WE ARE TOTALLY GOING TO REDO BECAUSE THAT VALET WAS AN IDIOT), walked to the bar I had recently left from and chilled with the gang some more.

All that ugly side of the hotel and you couldn’t get the bottom of my awesome sign with the 2 guys it mentions?! Come on!

They took off for another bar to hear some blues but I want to be semi-alert tomorrow, so I came on home. I am exhausted now. The conference doesn’t even officially start till tomorrow at 1. My night was only from 8:15 – 11:15 and it was awesome, aggravating and terrifying when I thought I lost the phone. I have no idea how I’d replace all that info. I have to look into that. Anyway. I’m exhausted and I have to tweet golf in the morning.

You kids enjoy your breakfast tomorrow. Look for #hrgolf tweets from the 1st 9 holes before I go to Jen McClure’s workshop! Goodnight!

-HRGF

Update – And I just heard a ruckus outside like someone maybe breaking into cars, so I went to see…cause I’m a nosy dumbass like that, who enjoys her car. Like what was I going to do? Stop the criminals with my Buffy-esque fighting skills? Why did I go out there?! No, not breaking into cars…idiots littering beer bottles. Part got between foot and flip flop and I stepped on it. This better not be some kind of SHRM beginner’s curse. The bleeding has stopped, but it’s painful and the peroxide was esp unpleasant. Hope I don’t need a stitch. Cross your fingers.