Encore Episode: A Recipe for Job Fairs and Beef Chili

No new episode this week please enjoy this encore episode from June 25, 2020 

We'll return with a new episode April 27th
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Jaded HR brings value to the workplace

Warren’s mother’s abbs

Virtual Job Fairs

Job Fair Woes

You attached what to your resume or application

Being the outspoken one in the office

This week’s best HR practice…

Have a story you want to share, a dumb employee question, a question you want our sage HR advice, a best practice of your own or just feedback in general email us at feedback@jadedhr.com.

Transcript

Warren 0:01

Hey, all you jaded HR listeners, want to let you know that due to a series of unfortunate events, we will not have a new episode for you this week or next week. We hope to be presenting a new episode for you in two weeks. So in the meantime, please enjoy this episode from our archives that maybe didn't get the love it deserved the first time. So thank you very much for listening and please continue to listen next week to another Encore episode, and we will have a new episode in two weeks. Thank you.

Patrick 0:49

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Jaded HR, a podcast by two former human resources co-workers who just want to help you get through the workday by saying all the things that you were thinking. Say it out loud. I'm Patrick Gonzillas.

Warren 1:03

And I'm Warren Workman.

Patrick 1:05

And Warren, I think after last week's episode, uh we're, you know, we I think we tried to drive home that we didn't want to bring the levity too much, but I I think we will try to to circle back to kind of our core principles.

Warren 1:23

Yes.

Patrick 1:23

And and how we as a a jaded HR podcast can bring value to people, whether it be human resources co-workers or or human resources workers or anyone that will enjoy this podcast. So I was trying to think of you know what is that what is that value we're bringing, and I kind of got into like the whole HR, how how can an HR department add value to the organization? And I found an article, and it was five ways that five important guidelines to increase HR value. And I thought we would maybe go through those five points real quick and see how our HR podcast can add value to to the world. Uh so number one is define your customers. So you know it's important in HR because you want to like you know, who is your customer? You got your internal, external, all that bullshit. But for jaded HR, I mean I think our our key customers are probably HR workers or really management, anyone in corporate setting, office workers, but I think anyone here. Yeah, that's actually a perfect way of putting it. I think anyone that has to deal with someone else.

Warren 2:37

It's a a co-worker, even if it's a co-worker, a subordinate, your boss, who knows? We're there for you.

Patrick 2:45

I think that's great. Uh understand and optimize. I think I think last week's episode was maybe a good a good turning point for that. We're trying to to learn and understand and maybe not be so ignorant about some of the things we say. Um that's gonna be an ongoing process, but I think that's a good example of us trying to shut up for a minute and maybe let some other people's voices be heard. But trying to circle back around and measure the value, which is number three. And right now our value is we need feedback, please. I know we're tired of begging and sounding desperate, but for the love of God, send us your stories or just tell us that we suck and we'll go back to doing something else.

Warren 3:33

No, uh no, I think we do provide value. Uh the people I I know that listen to us, you know, tell us, you know, they enjoy it.

Patrick 3:41

It's funny, and they're having to my mom says I do a good job.

Warren 3:45

Oh, my mom hasn't listened.

Patrick 3:46

I don't think my mom has either.

Warren 3:49

Oh, here's a funny story. My mother calls abs APPS on her phone, abs A B B S. And she doesn't I she doesn't have that ab all the time. Or how do I get that ab?

Patrick 4:01

And oh tell her about your nice abs.

Warren 4:06

Yes, my my nice well-protected abs by three or four inches of uh lard around it. You know, my mother and her abs.

Patrick 4:14

Jumping back into uh to the the abs of the podcast, which is our resources and our budget, which I don't know, that probably doesn't really apply.

Warren 4:23

Unlimited budget.

Patrick 4:25

Unlimited power. And lastly, strategy and connect. And I think that's called just doing a podcast and trying to connect with listeners.

Warren 4:35

Yeah, and you know, I think we're we're making some in ways. We've we've got some followers in our Facebook group. We've got uh a significant amount of followers on our Instagram, so we're connecting. Uh it seems to be one way. Like I said, we want the feedback, but uh uh no, it's I think we we are connecting, and our download numbers show that we're reaching just more people than I thought we would initially by this time. I'm very happy with that.

Patrick 5:02

Lots of different places for sure. Yeah. So I hope we're I hope we're bringing some value to to your life, to your workday, to your maybe your ride home as you de-stress about working in HR in these uh crazy times.

Warren 5:16

And I think right now that uh uh the value can bring is just some levity to people. You know, you're uh in HR, you know, your people are stressed out, whether your company's doing furloughs or you know, cra everything crazy that's going on now. You can sit back, relax, and have some fun, even if it's at our expense. You know, these morons don't know what the hell they're talking about.

Patrick 5:38

I imagine most of that is what can these buffoons say today to offend the masses.

Warren 5:46

Yeah, I don't I I hope we haven't offended anybody, at least uh but who knows? Everybody's so easily offended, especially right now.

Patrick 5:54

Yeah, so yeah, that's um that's my bringing home the bacon.

Warren 6:00

I don't know. Well I I I wanted to talk a little bit about job fairs today.

Patrick 6:06

Um love job fairs. That used to be my favorite part. The only thing I liked about recruiting was going to job fairs.

Warren 6:13

Uh now early in my career I liked some of the job fairs when I was a dedicated college recruiter and I'd be on the road going to college campuses. You know, I'd I'd leave on Sunday, come back on Thursday night, and be traveling God knows where uh for that that week. Uh I actually had fun, and you know, you get to know some of the other recruiters on the circuit, and uh, you know, recruiters are trading swag and all that sort of stuff. So that you know, when I was in my 20s, that was fun. I had I had a lot of fun doing that. Uh I don't think I could do that right now and well beyond my twenties. I just think I don't have the energy, I don't have the the right attitude.

Patrick 6:53

You definitely need you need energy. That's probably the best word for a job fair, is you gotta have that optimism and a little bit of pep in your step.

Warren 7:03

Well, because we're in the pandemic, I did a job fair this week, but I or last week I should say, but it was a virtual job fair. And I thought it's really cool and very interesting. Okay. You know, even after the pandemic, I think that this might be a way to to do job fairs better. And I uh, you know, this is the only positive thing I'm gonna say right now about job fairs, but I I had a good time, I did well. But my my my point on talking about job fairs today is uh you know that good experience this week made me think about all my other job fair experiences. And you know, early on in my career, loved it, loved it. But later I I didn't like it so much. But uh right now, I I don't do job fairs unless they're like a niche job fair or uh industry-specific job fair. Uh we don't do the the cattle call job fairs or anything uh because we're looking for very finite skills, but it not that far before the pandemic started, I did uh a couple of job fairs. I'm just sort of remembering some things that just would you know get my blood boiling when I'm at a job fair. And like the first one was people that were just so vague about what they're looking for, even at industry-specific or niche job fairs, they'd come up to you and say, I'm looking for a management position. Well, human resource management, engineering management, facilities management, I mean, really, uh, or leadership or supervisor or something really vague like that. And they didn't seem to understand that I needed to find out more about them than you know, they wanted a management position. Uh those were those were some things that would bother me. And another thing that would get on my nerves, I would heard hear, I'm starting to hear more frequently, even at this online uh job pair did I'm a subject matter expert. Well, once again, in what? I'm I'm a subject matter expert. You know, believe it or not, I I could be considered a SME in some HR uh areas, but you know, hey, I can tell you the hell out of anything you need to know about the Major League Baseball bulk rule or the NCAA designated hitter rule that nobody else in the world understands. I understand it inside and out. So it's all relative. You tell me your SME, okay. I need I need a little bit more than that. But here's a story, and it's actually from the last live in-person job fair I went to. And once again, it was a niche job fair, it was by invite only um uh uh by the people who put on the job fair. And I'm talking to this person who we ultimately hired, so uh we're talking about this highly technical position, and I'm just like uh fawning over her because I'm like, oh, I I I need to make her an offer right now, I need to hire her right now. But uh, you know, we obviously couldn't do that, but thankfully we did get her an offer, and I think the person behind her could tell that I was obviously getting excited about things uh she had to tell me and things like that. So get finished with her, and then I start talking to him. And he I'll say he was basically parroting uh some of the things she was saying, and I'm starting to get excited too. I'm like, wow, two of these highly technical people back to back, and like this, you know, getting one would be you know worth the entire job fair. But two, I'm just going, I'm I'm really excited. So I'm talking to him and I'm uh go through the whole spiel of telling him, hey, these are the requirements of the jobs, here's the overview, and then I start asking questions, and that's where we went straight off the cliff, not downhill, it was so I'm starting to ask, hey, tell me about your certifications and education, and he's just deer in the headlight, and uh you know, and then uh I start asking about things like uh, you know, his experience with being much more specific, getting beyond the 10,000-foot view or much deeper dive, and we're not close. And then I said, Well, let me have your resume, take a look at it. Not even close. I mean, he he had a background which would qualify him to be there, but you know, just wow. And he was sitting there, I I I seriously believe he was eavesdropping on my prior conversation, trying to, ooh, he likes her. What can what can uh I do to, you know, like a little kid, you know, I want some attention too. So that that just really got to me. And I, you know, uh anyways, that's uh that's my second rant about job fairs. But be yourself, you know, if you if you don't have whatever experience or anything, if you're not, you know, this highly technical, just let me know. I you know, there might be something else or might not, but just don't don't start it off like that.

Patrick 11:51

I always got to do uh the job fair in Hampton, uh close to where we both live. Uh it was always a like a junior job fair, so like all the high schools bought people in. And I always loved um some people would take it really seriously and they'd be like dress nice and they present themselves nice, and it was like, oh nice, we have some hope for the future. And then you have the other people that look like they're either going clubbing or they just rolled out of bed, and it just that always cracked me up.

Warren 12:19

I have done a couple of uh you know, I worked at the water park, so our uh target employees were high school kids. So I did a couple of high school job fairs, and like you, some of them I had a really great experience. Uh some of them not so much. It it was it was very interesting, but the whole thing, you know, oh you're Haley's dad was like, you know, I live in a small county, so everybody, you know, about that age knows everybody else. And oh, yep, that's me. I I lost my identity as Warren. I I was just oh you're Haley's dad. Okay, yeah. I figured they had a ticket, yeah, yeah, and you know, it for most of it it it worked out pretty well. But yeah, that I did like I will say I did like doing those high school job fairs because either they're going so far overboard to address uh impress, excuse me, but not being fake like that guy I was telling you about, or you know, they're coming in, yo, what you got?

Patrick 13:16

Yeah, I just want some swag.

Warren 13:18

Yeah, I want to.

Patrick 13:18

I'm just here so I don't have to go to class.

Warren 13:21

Exactly, exactly.

Patrick 13:22

Which I don't blame them.

Warren 13:23

I mean Hey, get me out of class for a while.

Patrick 13:27

I mean, honestly, I'm at I'm working the job first, so I'm not at my desk, so we're kind of both in the same boat. That's how I always felt. It's like you kidding me, I get to go hang out for four hours, I get a free lunch that usually had a cookie, and yeah, it's a good day.

Warren 13:41

Oh yeah. And let me tell you, the one thing I'm noticing, you know, in the in the 90s and early 2000s soon to uh college recruiting job fair, like I'm uh doing like I did now, then excuse me, I'm doing some I've done some college job fairs this year. Oh my goodness, the food on campuses is so much better. Usually they give you a ticket to go to their cafeteria. Oh, yeah, and it was, you know, it was it was crap. Uh now I you know, I was at UVA earlier this year, and oh my gosh, the the choices and the options in their cafeteria. Uh they had a uh a Korean barbecue place inside their. I was like, oh my goodness. And uh, you know, the same thing goes when I visit my daughter at East Carolina. I don't mind eating at the cafeteria with uh when I go visit her. Heck yeah. This is this is great. And they put a lot of time, schools have put a lot of time and effort into it, and it's it's actually something to look forward to uh with those job bears.

Patrick 14:42

My wife's a JMU alum and we were up there in uh Mass Nutton earlier this year, and she wanted to go see the new galley. And that place is just it's this beautiful thing. Like you walk in and there's like you said, other I remember there being Korean barbecue, pasta stations, like but just enormous. You couldn't even it would take you a year to probably eat all the different stuff there.

Warren 15:03

I remember when I saw the Korean barbecue, I took uh a picture of it and I sent text my daughter says, by any chance, does ECU have anything like this? I forget what she said if they do or not.

Patrick 15:14

We introduced you to bulgogi in the office, and now you just can't get enough.

Warren 15:17

Yes, no. I hey, I I've always liked uh is a Korean barbecue places. I've just never had, you know, the the or the uh bulgogi or I guess what I'm talking about in Korean barbecue is the the Mongolian barbecue. I'm sorry, Mongolian barbecue when they do the big fryer on the thing. I'm sorry. But uh I love the barbecue. I love Korean barbecue, the bulgogee, I love that Mongolian uh stuff. So we could have a podcast about food.

Patrick 15:42

I was just gonna say, if if you can't tell, whenever food comes up, we tend to get sidetracked.

Warren 15:47

Yes, yes.

Patrick 15:48

Isn't a bad thing. Well, I'm gonna jump right in because you job fairs one of the big things with job fairs are applications. And one thing that I came across today that I thought was kind of a fun topic was sometimes people think they're sending in a resume or an application, but they attach something completely different.

Warren 16:10

Uh uh.

Patrick 16:11

So I found a Reddit thread uh by user DejaCo22, and he said I got through about sixty out of 150 resumes today, and the 61st resume attachment was just a four-page welcome to document cloud by Adobe PDF. So and it just kind of spawned this thread of people just talking about crazy attachments that they got from applicants. So I'll just go through a few that I thought were kind of funny. Um, instructions for your saltwater aquarium. A text file that contained nothing except objective. I need a job for a VP level position, nonetheless. Some people said they'd get homework, resumes, personal documents, and a document of someone ordering McNuggets. I don't know how that works. Said uh let's see, court documents, financial statements, uh, and a recipe that turned out to be a really great roast.

Warren 17:11

Hey. Okay, I'll try it. If I got a recipe in a application or resume attachment, if it looked good, I might try it.

Patrick 17:20

So another uh person said they someone they accidentally attached a termination letter from a past employer.

Warren 17:26

Oh.

Patrick 17:27

So from an HR standpoint, but have you uh I was trying to think. I don't I don't think I've ever come across a random attachment. I feel like that probably has happened. It just wasn't strong enough memory to make it this far.

Warren 17:41

I don't recall that happening, but I I've received multiple times that generic word uh resume template with all the enter whatever, interdate here. So they basically had their name and then everything else was still the blank word document with the placeholders in it. I've I've received that more than one time. So I yeah. No, I feel bad for people who do things like that, but you know, uh taking off a jaded hat. You know, one thing I always like to tell people and talk to them is name your resume something other than just resume, put your name in it and or put the position title that you're looking for, you know, Warren Workman, uh HR director, or whatever you want to uh put on there, you know, so it it does it'll stand out just that much more versus you know 2020 resume and uh and things like that. Is it you know a lot of times out of the ATS I'll I'll download them and then I want to go back to them and I you know because they're named you know resume 2020, I don't I don't uh it's our makes me work harder to find it again.

Patrick 18:49

And not chili beef dot doc. Someone attached there, Jamie Oliver for chili beef recipe.

Warren 18:58

What I or these bizarre formats, I forget what poor format I got uh a resume in. They they applied online, sent me a PDF on I said, Oh, you know, we we discussed some things that uh he experiences he had that weren't on his resume, and I said, Hey, I that why don't you add these on your resume so it's crystal clear? And sent email it to me. So he does, and he emails I forget what type of format it was, but it wasn't Word or uh PDF or anything like that. And I had to say, dude, I can't I can't open this file for whatever reason.

Patrick 19:32

Yeah, be careful with some of that stuff. Someone just send you uh some wonky virus or malware or something crazy.

Warren 19:39

Yeah, yeah. That's always a a threat for HRs. We do deal with so many attachments, we do deal with so many things, so I think HR it's always a a threat for us.

Patrick 19:50

Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Well, I have some more, but maybe we can do them later. See how it goes.

Warren 19:54

Okay, okay. Well, you know, I this is an old topic I wrote on my my topic list, and I don't know how long ago. It might have even been before we started it, but the topic someone put out there, and if it was Reddit or Quora or Yahoo, wherever the questions came from, I don't know. But the person was talking about they're they feel they're being shunned and uh punished for being outspoken in the office. And they said they were being treated unfairly and all that. And I just I can see people saying and doing that, but I think there's also a point where there's a difference between being outspoken in the office and being the asshole in the office, and it really just comes down to tact and approach. You know, if you have an idea, a suggestion, if you have something you want to do, sell it, be positive, and don't be the wet blanket that's gonna say, oh, we can't do that because whatever. No, listen to it, put it out there. Uh, have a positive attitude, be helpful, be realistic. That's the number one thing. Just be realistic. Uh be collaborative. You know, yours is not the only sele suggestion in the world. But you know, once again, don't be that squeaking wheel or the constant complainer. Uh, don't be one of those people who make it about me, me, me. Uh, you know, uh it's just I I when I read that title, I just pictured what we've call now the Karen, who you know, nobody likes me because I'm so outspoken. Well, maybe it's just the way you're being outspoken, not that you are being outspoken. So Yeah.

Patrick 21:35

I'm trying to I'm kind of like being introspective here, and um I think I tend to sometimes be outspoken and I hope I don't come off as toxic, but I do think I probably speak my mind a little bit more, especially if it's maybe a policy or a practice or something going on in the organization that maybe I'm not a huge fan of. I tend to let my sarcasm out a little bit more than I should. And usually in a more negative light.

Warren 22:03

Well, I think that also depends on the environment. The environment where we weren't together, that was me. You know, I I I think I I did very well to bring that to uh our team in a lot of uh regards of hey being a but it was more being in a smart ass type way, not being I don't I think I I can't see you being uh being the wet blanket type person. I can see it being sarcastic, smart ass-y. I can see it being all sorts of things, but not necessarily the the wet blanket or the you know the person who's just gonna bring everybody down.

Patrick 22:38

You know, probably more passive aggressive toxicity or something like that. That's what I'm bringing to the table.

Warren 22:53

If we all know who you are and that you're not you know, not that negative Nancy person or what have you, then I think that's one thing versus the you know, just that constant, oh my gosh, she's about to open her mouth and you know, it's gonna be a complaint about something or something's not gonna be right, uh type thing.

Patrick 23:11

Yeah, you have certain certain you get to know certain employees when you see their name either on the call or ID or you see an email from them and and you just know that Here it goes. Yeah, here we go again. Let's strap in.

Warren 23:25

Uh yes. Uh no, uh don't want uh uh you know, be be outspoken, be even be sarcastic, be cynical. Those are those can be good things, but just you know, you have to fit into the environment. Uh, you know, you and I we could voice our cynicism, we could voice our sarcasm where we were, because we were all pretty much to some extent or another that way. And it it was appreciated. It wasn't, oh my gosh, uh, you know, here goes here goes Warren again, type thing. And or maybe y'all were just very good at hiding it and being nice to me.

Patrick 24:01

We just waited until you left the room.

Warren 24:04

Yeah, that's the truth.

Patrick 24:05

Uh brings me back. One of one of my favorite directors that I worked for, still a really good friend. Um I remember when we first started working together, it might have been like literally the first day she came into my office, and I was still like an a temp HR assistant at the time, I think. And she made a comment about uh how she likes confrontation. Like confrontation is a good thing in the in the workspace when used, I guess, appropriately in in the terms of speaking your mind and and being outspoken about things and not just um go along to play along. Yeah, like sometimes you have to ask w maybe why things are done and that those kind of things. But that always kind of stuck with me, and I'm still not great at confrontation, but I do try to voice things as much as you can. I do think that's important.

Warren 24:56

Right.

Patrick 24:57

Just stick with a status quo and nothing changes, and I think we kind of get into that routine and rhythm sometimes, and that's probably why we're so jaded a lot of the time, because you're just like stuck in this rut, but if you maybe step back a little bit and look at things, you might actually be able to make some some positive changes. Which we all probably need to do right now.

Warren 25:17

Oh yeah, yeah. And that's another thing. I don't know how I would be in terms of right now, you know, it's not necessarily the time to be as cynical. Uh am I saying this correctly? I, you know, you need to be a little bit more serious, a little bit more thoughtful in your words and phrases and uh how you do things, because you know, it's a trying time uh right now, and I I I don't think people who know me would think I have a uh a malevolent bone in my body, but they just know I'm also a uh a sarcastic SOB. And if I say something that you you know it's not meant to be mean to you, maybe mean to uh unidentified person, but uh I'm uh you know, it it may still come off the wrong way because of just the environment we're in right now.

Patrick 26:11

Yeah.

Warren 26:12

So i maybe it's time for people like me to do better jobs at biting their tongue.

Patrick 26:17

We all need to look deep inside of ourselves and see how we can be better better people and treat people better.

Warren 26:24

Yeah, I don't know. Having mocking people is so much fun.

Patrick 26:31

It is. It is it is our survival tool.

Warren 26:34

It is.

Patrick 26:34

Well, on that note, what are some other things that the people can do for us, Warren?

Warren 26:39

Well, we want them to do at least one of four things. Share the podcast with other people. Tell them, hey, listen to these two fools, uh, you'll get a kick out of it. Share the information about the podcast. Connect with us. Number two, connect with us on your social media platforms, your favorite social media platforms. Three, feedback, feedback, feedback. Even if it's hate mail, you you think you suck.

Patrick 27:03

At this point, yeah, I would love some hate mail. Just anything.

Warren 27:07

You guys suck. Uh give us to it. So uh you can do it through uh feedback at jdhr.com or direct message us on any of our social media platforms. And once again, stories, stories, stories. We we want to hear your stories, we want to uh know what you're going through. And there's so many, you know, great stories I I have. Maybe at some point I'll just start uh borrowing other people's stories I know and using using some of those because there are some great stories I've been told, except I just wouldn't be able to do them justice of not having been there done that.

Patrick 27:41

And leave a review on iTunes for goodness sakes. Come on, people.

Warren 27:45

Yes. Yeah, iTunes. Uh uh give us your review there, Pod Chaser, uh any of the ones that uh I check those probably uh once a week or so to see if there's any new reviews or comments. Uh we'll respond to you. We'll even read them on air if you give us something. Uh good, bad, one-star review. Doesn't matter, we'll we'll read it on there.

Patrick 28:06

Yeah, I don't care, just something. Still just setting up the one that I did on iTunes.

Warren 28:12

Sad. Yeah.

Patrick 28:15

So well, we always like to end our podcast with a best practice. So, Warren, do you have a best practice for us tonight?

Warren 28:23

Okay. You we all have those departments or those sections of our buildings that when HR walks in, they start, oh, it's HR, and they get all scared and nervous. So best practice for this week is Friday afternoon, walk around to that department just carrying empty uh copy paper boxes for no particular uh reason and uh make a habit out of that. Every Friday afternoon, that whatever that department is that goes, oh, it's HR. Just have that empty copy paper box and need to be there for some unknown reason and just let them look at you and watch you.

Patrick 28:59

That's my comfort is could you just like just leave it on someone's desk? Just like don't say anything, don't say a reason. Just walk by and just oh, oops, I like come back on Monday. Did I leave my box here? Oh my god, I love it. Well, I'll just say thank you to the underscore orchestra. We use their song Devil with the Devil for intro and outro music. And I am Patrick Gonzolas. Thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of Day to Day Charlie.

Warren 29:25

And I'm Warren Workman, and we're here helping you survive HR One What the Fucking movie editing.