A conversation on hiring: Recent Episodes
Sean McQuade
Hi and welcome to a conversation on hiring with Back Pocket Resources. Sean and Kaydi combined have two decades of experience working with hiring managers, HR professionals, and active job seekers and can confidently say that the vast majority of people believe that hiring, as it is done today, is broken. We believe there is a better way, and we are here to talk about it. We are career recruiters and hiring coaches that have experience working with companies of all sizes, and some of the best brands in the world. We plan to offer content that is real, and helpful, and looks at all sides of the hiring process. We will bring leaders in to talk about what they are doing, and what is working, or not working. We will offer advice in real time, and deliver content to answer the questions of our listeners.
This episode we discuss the value of your battle scars as an applicant and potential employee. Hansel Tineo is an Operations Manager for Siemens and talks to us about how he interviews, and offers insight and tips to hiring managers and job seekers. Hansel is really dialed in and thoughtful about how to build a successful team.
Diane is a coach whose focus is on helping teams to use behavioral analysis tools to strengthen communication and break down silos. She is a certified John Maxwell DISC Human Behavior Consultant and brings years of experience hiring and management to build relationships within her client companies.
In our conversation, we dive into our own different styles to look at how they have affected our careers and relationships. We talk about hiring for potential, and how behavioral style assessments can be a tool in that process. We also share a few horror stories about hiring people who are just like you and hoping that they bring something new to the table. Somehow, Sean wound up taking the brunt of the jokes (hint… he’s an “off the charts Dominant” in his DISC profile).
Teams can get better if they know themselves better, grow together, and help each other to develop the skills they need to be successful. Join the conversation to hear about it!
In this episode, we chat with Natalie Delmage about HR strategy and solutions. Natalie is a Business Performance Advisor with Insperity, where she helps companies implement technology tools to manage HR functions. As the conversation took shape, we discussed the importance of onboarding, not just in the first few weeks, but rather throughout an employee’s life with the company. This continuous onboarding process allows for growth and accelerated success within the company, which can help the entire organization to thrive.
In this episode, we sit down with Courtney Fanning, a brand strategist and copywriter, who is the founder of Big Picture Branding. For Courtney, planning to start a family had to start with convincing her company that having a robust family leave policy was not about “paying for someone else’s life choices” but rather a way to help the business mature into an organization that attracts and retains senior talent. The business case she made began with maternity leave, but became a comprehensive family leave that continues to benefit all of the employees as they navigate different life situations.
In this episode we talk with Allison Bryant of Ten Percent Happier. We talk about career transitions, covid pivots, and company growth through the pandemic. We run the gamut here from remote work, strengths based hiring, interviewing tactics, and removing fear from the workplace. As a hiring manager, how do you create an environment that supports your employees growth, and post employment advocacy.
In this episode, we have a conversation with Todd Dupont, the Assistant Director of White Pine Programs in York, ME. White Pine is a year- round outdoor education program for students from Forest Kindergarten to adult programs. Coming off a year of massive changes to their programming, Todd is changing the job description and interviewing processes, moving out of the historical model and towards a story- driven, collaborative, and service oriented way of thinking.
The conversation moves into training/ onboarding of new staff so it’s less trial by fire (or snow?) and more of an opportunity to bring diverse and non- traditional candidates in to expand the mindset and enhance the culture of the organization as a whole. It was awesome for us to hear about the beauty of mission- driven hiring, an embrace of hard conversations around hiring, and a bit about the importance of luck.
In this episode, we talk with Kim Teves, a Realtor/ Broker and Career Services Director with HomeSmart Professionals Real Estate. In her position, she is responsible for recruiting new agents to the brokerage, as well as helping support retention of existing agents. Real estate agents are not employees of their firms, but rather operate as independent contractors, so recruitment has less to do with salary and benefits (although the commission plan definitely matters), and more to do with the tools that can help the agent to grow their business. Kim shares her process for understanding the professionalism, ethics, and willingness to learn each agent brings to the table, and her commitment to ensuring that they are choosing the right brokerage for their career path.
To mix it up, this week we are talking with Patrice Jean-Phillippe about the job search experience. She lets us in on her strategy to interview the interviewer so that she can better understand the company ‘s leadership style. She’ll be the first to call “garbage” when she hears it, and she is honing her negotiation skills to earn what she is worth in her next position.
Patrice is a mother, a social media consultant for small businesses, and a cake designer.
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Philip Chan about staffing a community based healthcare clinic, developing staff through mentorship, and how to handle it when someone you’ve hired is just not a great fit. In all his roles, he has managed to not have a single hiring horror story!
Philip A. Chan, M.D., M.S., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and School of Public Health at Brown University and infectious diseases physician. Dr. Chan is Chief Medical Officer at Open Door Health, the state’s only community-based LGBTQ+ clinic. Dr. Chan also serves as Consultant Medical Director for the Rhode Island Department of Health Division of Preparedness, Response, Infectious Disease and EMS (PRIDEMS). In his spare time, he hosts the podcast “Public Health Out Loud.”
In this episode, we talk with Niamh Perreault, VP of Inside Sales at Invest Northern Ireland, about the work she is doing to promote partnerships and direct foreign investment. Her team is dispersed across North America, and she is responsible for hiring and leading the sales team. We discuss the challenges of attracting top talent to a mission driven organization, aligning job descriptions, and the importance of staff development, even when that means that some will move up and out of the company.
Our guest on this episode is Dr. Sarah C. Sutton, a Senior Vice President at Argot Partners, where her focus is on Communications for Investor Relations and Public Relations. She began her business career working with early stage biotech companies, and has taught business writing at Boston College. As both a candidate and as a hiring manager, Sarah seeks to understand the story of the role and of the candidate. She tells us about some of the most successful hires she has made in which she looks for excitement, potential, and passion for the work. She discusses the benefits and challenges of working with recruiters, and offers both hiring and job seeking advice.
For more information on us or our other offerings visit us here.
You can email us at hello@bpresources.com
Far too often we see job descriptions that use a lot of words to say not a whole lot about what the actual position is mainly responsible for doing. Too many details are given about every possible activity that might ever be undertaken, without nearly enough information about what someone in the role would experience daily.
The result of these weak job descriptions is that many new hires feel that they interviewed for a different position than the one they actually got. This disconnect leads to a misalignment that can cause disruption and unnecessary drama on work teams.
So what's the better way to develop compelling job descriptions? Join Sean and Kaydi as they talk about some tested strategies to get better candidates for the roles you need to fill.
Decades of work in staffing have taught us one thing: the way that most companies are hiring is wrong. Too many companies are deeply invested in lengthy, cumbersome processes despite the fact that they are not getting the results that they need.
We believe that there is a better way.
Join us each week as we chat with leaders in a wide variety of industries to learn what works and what doesn't as we work to put humanity back in human resources.