Meghan M. Biro, Author at TalentCulture

Recruiting Gen Z: A Whole New Ballgame

Move over, Millennials: Recruiters need to prepare for Generation Z, and that’s going to take a whole new mindset. Gen Z is the newest generation—born after the mid-90s—and its oldest members are set to enter the workforce. Raised post 9/11 in a steady recession economy, this second generation of digital natives has faint—if any—memories of the boom years. They’re more pragmatic and less dependent on their parents, putting them more in line with the Silent Generation—than their Millennial peers. Here’s a look at some of the key qualities that make Gen Z unique. They Aren’t as Close to Their Parents After

Helping Gen Z Find Their Career Calling

As children, most of us remember being asked the age-old question: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” Of course, there were always those lucky few who just seemed to know what career path they wanted—to teach, go into medicine, learn a trade, practice law, or work in marine biology. The rest of us, however, had no clue. And not having a clue? That made perfect sense. It’s impossible to know what the world is all about when you’re young. For most of us, that meandering ended once we got through college—despite any stumbles we might’ve experienced along

Mentorship and the Future of Work

The American workplace is changing at a revolutionary pace and when it comes to the future of work, mentorship will no doubt play an important role. Half of the full-time workforce is projected to be remote employees working from home either full or part time by 2020. In addition, the average American worker now spends only 4.5 years at one job–and that number is even less for Millennials. Simply put, there’s a new future of work coming…one that looks significantly different than even a decade ago. Studies show that close to 80 percent of college students and recent grads rank people

Using Technology to Drive Diversity in Your Business

Whether your focus is B2B or B2C, a socially diverse team is just good business sense. It isn’t just because your organization should reflect our increasingly diverse society — research shows collaborating with people of different race, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, economic status, and life experience encourages creative thinking and drives business growth. But the road to diversity must be paved with more than good intentions. If workers, clients, and business partners aren’t already judging how effective your company’s efforts to be more diverse are, they soon will be. Being inclusive is an effort that starts from the ground up–from

#WorkTrends Preview: Leadership Lessons from Superheroes

The TalentCulture #WorkTrends Show is all new on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT). During this #WorkTrends event, we will discuss the superpowers of leaders with author and leadership expert David Kahn, briefly touching on the powers of: Accountability Conviction Persuasion, and Collaboration. We will also discuss: The ingredients of an effective leader, How superheroes can make you a better leader, and The use of pop culture to enhance talent management initiatives. David Kahn, Ph.D. is the author of “Cape, Spandex, Briefcase: Leadership Lessons from Superheroes.” He is an experienced researcher and practitioner in leadership and

Make Technology Compliance Sexy: Embrace The Culture

Technology compliance is a necessity. But it isn’t sexy — yet. Certainly, innovating ways to approach compliance has contributed to a greatly transformed world of work. It’s underscored the need for the power and scope (Cloud) and for agile processes and insights (talent analytics). It’s leavened a sense of mission with an edict for ethical conduct (I’m speaking generally here), and that’s certainly a trend given the trending values of a changing workforce population. And the topic elicits sighs among most of those not charged with its administration. It’s not sexy because it’s complicated, and it’s required. It’s like the

#WorkTrends Recap: Forget Work-Life Balance. Start LIFEworking

During today’s #WorkTrends show, we discussed the importance of forgetting the old “work-life balance myth” and how to start LIFEworking. #WorkTrends Founder and Host Meghan M. Biro was joined by Tim McDonald and Ayelet Baron, Co-Founders of CreatingIs and LIFEworking. While we have been led to believe that we can separate our personal and work personas, we are only one person. We don’t need to have a separation or a balancing act. It’s really about blending work into our lives. During the event, we learned more about LIFEworking. At its heart, this strategy meshes life and work into an integrated existence.

Health Insurance Private Exchanges: Are They Making the Cut?

It wasn’t long ago that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) swept over the American healthcare landscape, bringing with it a real focus on private exchanges. Consultants, brokers—and anyone with products to sell—were all focusing on these exchanges, which had a dramatic impact on both individuals, and businesses of all sizes, concerning the health care benefits afforded employees. Fast forward to today. Have Private Health Exchanges Lived Up To The Hype? With the cost of healthcare on the rise, many companies in the United States have been trying to figure out how to cut those hefty employee insurance premiums. Businesses have responded

Perception Is Reality: Talent Magnets Attract The Best People

‘We don’t much care about having you as an employee. Move along.’ I’m hearing a lot from top performing talent at leading technology companies jumping ship in droves. When it’s an AOL or a Yahoo facing tremendous uncertainty, dropping stock price, and competition on all fronts, it’s not difficult to understand. At some point you have to look out for number one. When it’s a LinkedIn, which negotiated its IPO with reasonable grace, it’s also not hard to understand – stock option lockups are expiring and people are finally free to look for the next big career thing. When it’s a

Insights into the Talent Board North American Candidate Experience Report

The Talent Board North American Candidate Experience Report is now available. Once again, it is full of insights that really capture where organizations are landing on such an important topic: The Candidate Experience. Not that long ago, this wasn’t such a hot subject. People applied for jobs, they landed the position or they didn’t. Recruiters on the front lines have long felt the impact in discussions with job seekers and hiring managers who experienced a “disconnect” in the hiring process. Everyone moved on. However, luckily, things have changed. We have a talent pool full of people who expect more. And the

5 Reasons To Kill The Work-Life Balance Myth

Work or life? Nope. There’s no such thing as either/or. The work-life duality is a fallacy. One way or another, we all know, deep down, that it’s simply not a functional construct, particularly in 2016. Here are five reasons why. Passion is seamless If we’re engaged in our work, we’re working from our passion — and passion is a key driver of success. It also means you don’t want to disconnect from what’s on your mind. Imposing a line of demarcation and isolating your work into a compartment can stifle your own creativity, as well as limit connection, opportunities and new

#WorkTrends Preview: Forget Work-Life Balance. Start LIFEworking

While we have been led to believe that we can separate our personal and work personas, we are only one person. We don’t need to have this separation and balancing act in our lives. For many, work has become how we define ourselves and why we need balance is because many of us no longer have a life outside of work. We can buy into the work-life balance mythology or we can change the story and realize there is only life; no blending or integrating required. We need to become whole as people by figuring out what role work plays in

Are Private Exchanges the Future of Employer Health Insurance?

Mention health insurance to friends or colleagues and everyone has a different opinion—and the conversation isn’t much different up in the C-suite. When private health insurance exchanges launched onto the corporate radar a few years ago, moving from a small business and individual marketplace to a solution for large-scale corporate benefits, they were heralded as revolutionary. The health insurance environment is changing—but not in the way, or at the pace, the industry has expected. Instead of a sprint, private exchanges have made a slow climb. And with the launch of public health exchanges under the Affordable Care Act as well as

#WorkTrends Recap: Overcoming the Symptoms of Destructive Management

During today’s first #WorkTrends show, we discussed how to overcome the symptoms of destructive management. #WorkTrends Founder and Host Meghan M. Biro was joined by Shawn Murphy, a well-respected author, keynote speaker, and CEO/Founder of the consultancy Switch & Shift. Destructive management has been percolating in organizations for some time. Its adverse effects have become commonplace and too little is being done about it. Our guest, Shawn Murphy, discussed his debut book, The Optimistic Workplace, which defines the symptoms and many antidotes to overcoming destructive management. He also shared why and how to move towards building an optimistic workplace. It was

5 “Foot” Steps To Creating Brand Humanization

I’m super passionate about the importance of Brand Humanization, that mix of culture, community and corporation which can create magic for employees and shareholders, or signal trouble, not only in the ranks, but in the larger world of brand reputation. There is so much happening in this arena right now. It’s very cool really. On the one hand we have TOMS Shoes, the oh-so-hip shoe brand with a huge social network sustained by a very human brand with a cause. TOMS hits all the high notes in Brand Humanization. It leverages the power of social networks and attracts a growing community

STEM Recruiting: The Biggest Area You’re Ignoring

When it comes to the future of higher education, there’s no shortage of conversation and/or focus on the importance of STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and math). While STEM learning is a hot topic in academic institutions, many companies are unaware that the pipeline of talent in STEM fields is drastically under-filled. It is estimated that by 2020 there will be more jobs in tech than there are bodies to fill them. Somewhere between 1 million and 2.5 million jobs will go unfilled, most of them in the engineering and computer science fields. That’s a serious shortage. This means companies will

Beware the Feel Good Work Culture

How critical is work culture to recruitment and employee retention? It’s important, I’ll give you that. But a feel good work culture might do more harm than good. As the economy continues to grow, hiring managers and HR personnel realize how fiercely they must compete for top talent. As I recently wrote, if you’re looking to snag the best prospects, employee perks alone just won’t cut it. Today’s modern employee is looking for much more than great benefits and a healthy 401K plan. Those recruiting for tech industries especially know that companies such as Google and Facebook have raised the bar

6 Ways to Help Attract a Founding Team, Pre-Revenue

So, let’s say you have a great idea. Maybe it’s been your side project, or maybe you’re 100 percent committed to making this idea a business. In the pre-revenue phase you’re now in, you need to focus on how to attract the best founding team. And you need to understand that your road ahead is not going to be easy, because a founding team in an early-stage startup generally has little or no revenue, and a whole lot of potential problems. At the same time, you probably already know that finding good technical talent, versus business talent, is critical, and that

#WorkTrends Preview: Overcoming the Symptoms of Destructive Management

The TalentCulture #WorkTrends Show is all new on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT). Destructive management has been percolating in organizations for some time. Its adverse affects have become commonplace and too little is being done about it. Our guest, Shawn Murphy, will discuss his debut book, The Optimistic Workplace, which defines the symptoms and many antidotes to overcome destructive management; he will also share why and how to move towards building an optimistic workplace. Shawn Murphy is an author, keynote speaker, and the CEO/Founder of the consultancy Switch + Shift. Connect with Shawn on Twitter

Millennial Women Encouraged to Close the Leadership Gender Gap

Much has been written about how Millennials are changing the way we work and do business. While the pace of that transition has been dramatic in some areas, we still lag in others. For example, many young women still feel they need to make more sacrifices than men to get to the top. For many, it just isn’t worth the effort—and the result is that relatively few women want to be number one in their organization. But that might be about to change. Initiatives are being introduced to change that mindset for young women who are preparing to enter the world

5 Leadership Toys For The Multigenerational Workplace Sandbox

The multigenerational workforce; you’ve heard about it. There are about six generations that live in America today – three to five of which are in the workplace, with another set to enter within ten years. You’ve probably heard most about Generations X (30-50 years of age) and Generation Y (Millennials, 11-29), with the occasional reference to Baby Boomers (51-68), the group arguably hit hardest by the recent Great Recession. Please note that these age brackets vary from resource to resource but this gives you the general gist. Thanks to a global economy which stubbornly refuses to improve in any meaningful way

#TChat Recap: How to Manage Through Influence

During today’s final #TChat show and before we transition to #WorkTrends next week, we discussed how to manage through influence. #TChat Show co-founders and co-hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman were joined by Jim Fields, Vice President of Customer Experience Marketing at SAP, a multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Organizations are becoming more matrixed and less hierarchical every day and command-and-control corporate structures are relics of the past. Dealing with flatter organizational structures, outsourcing, and virtual teams can be quite challenging and the power of influence is becoming more important.

3 Secrets To Leading A Multi-Everything Blended Workforce

The new normal in terms of the workforce is not just multi-generational or global. It’s multi-everything. Working alongside each other are permanent payroll employees and all kinds of contingent workers. A recent government report found that 40.4% of the U.S. workforce is composed of contingent workers, and the numbers are trending up. For a slice of reality, I hopped on Glassdoor and typed in, “Google contingency worker” jobs. Of the 49 that came up, there were even positions to be part of the team that manages Google’s enormous, 70+ country, contingency workforce. Highly skilled, intensely focused, precisely specialized, or just super-competent generalists

5 Warnings for Leaders: Brand Humanization Is Not A Social Media Fad

Notice how hard brands and company leaders are fighting for your attention lately? They’re trying Brand Humanization; to position products and services to appeal to consumers, de-position the competition’s (very similar) stuff, and a million other tactics. But has it worked? Do brands truly appeal to you at a human level? Maybe not in many, many cases just yet. But they’re trying. One indicator is brands’ efforts with Trust Marketing. Spending as much time on Twitter and other social media channels as I do, I can see why. Trust is necessary if we are to think of brands in human terms.

We is at the Core of Great Leadership

As the American workplace continues to evolve, traditional leadership structures are dissolving. As a result, we’re beginning to see a shift from an “I” concept of leadership to a “We” concept. This is an example of holocracy, which is making inroads in supplanting the hierarchical organizational structures of yesterday, and it’s an interesting shift. What is holocracy? Well, it’s a management structure that brings discipline and structure to a peer-to-peer workplace, with the goals of achieving maximum creative expression while emphasizing accountability. So, how do leaders lead effectively in this new landscape? How do they get buy-in from their teams without

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Meghan M. Biro

Meghan M. Biro

Recruiting Gen Z: A Whole New Ballgame

Helping Gen Z Find Their Career Calling

Mentorship and the Future of Work

Using Technology to Drive Diversity in Your Business

#WorkTrends Preview: Leadership Lessons from Superheroes

Make Technology Compliance Sexy: Embrace The Culture

#WorkTrends Recap: Forget Work-Life Balance. Start LIFEworking

Health Insurance Private Exchanges: Are They Making the Cut?

Perception Is Reality: Talent Magnets Attract The Best People

Insights into the Talent Board North American Candidate Experience Report

5 Reasons To Kill The Work-Life Balance Myth

#WorkTrends Preview: Forget Work-Life Balance. Start LIFEworking

Are Private Exchanges the Future of Employer Health Insurance?

#WorkTrends Recap: Overcoming the Symptoms of Destructive Management

STEM Recruiting: The Biggest Area You’re Ignoring

Beware the Feel Good Work Culture

6 Ways to Help Attract a Founding Team, Pre-Revenue

#WorkTrends Preview: Overcoming the Symptoms of Destructive Management

Millennial Women Encouraged to Close the Leadership Gender Gap

#TChat Recap: How to Manage Through Influence

3 Secrets To Leading A Multi-Everything Blended Workforce

We is at the Core of Great Leadership

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Meghan M. Biro

Meghan M. Biro

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