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#TChat Recap: Live From Ireland: The IT@Cork European Technology Summit

This week, Kevin W. Grossman and I presented a very special live podcast and #TChat Twitter chat from Cork, Ireland.

Hosted at the popular IT@Cork European Technology Summit, this week we focused on the the impact of gender diversity on technology business performance around the world. We had the luck of the Irish with our stellar line up of international guest experts.

This week’s awesome guests were David Parry-Jones, VP UKI Vmware; Caroline O’Driscoll, Tax Partner at KPMG, Vice Chair of IT@cork; Michael Loftus, Head of Faculty of Engineering & Science at CIT.

Bucking the international norm, women in Ireland hold positions of seniority in a staggering number of large global tech businesses including Apple, Microsoft and PayPal.

In fact, a University of Cambridge study has observed that Ireland is fifth in the world for female economic power, ranking just behind Australia, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Overall, however, the current state of women in technology isn’t great, especially in the U.S. For example, the leadership at all of the top tech companies remains dominated by men.

The IT@Cork European Technology Summit panel deep dived into issues of gender equality, leadership and the wider perceptions of roles and people who fill them. For example, we talked about the perception that IT pros are mainly male and ‘geeky’.

Did You Miss The Podcast Show? Listen On BlogTalkRadioiTunes or Stitcher.

 

What’s Up Next? #TChat Returns Wednesday, May 13th: #TChat Radio Kicks Off at 1pm ET / 10am PT — Our weekly radio show runs 30 minutes. Usually, our social community joins us on Twitter as well.

Next week’s topic: How True Relationship Building Rises Above Social. #TChat Twitter Kicks Off at 1:30pm ET / 10:30am PT — Our halfway point begins with our highly engaging Twitter discussion. We take a social inside look at our weekly topic. Everyone is welcome to share their social insights #TChat.

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date! The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on See what’s happening right now on the #TChat Twitter stream in our LinkedIn group, and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics through our weekly email newsletter. Signing up is just a click away!

Passive-Recruiting

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#TChat Recap: Why Internal Customer Service Is So Important

Service must be a total commitment. Service is not just for the front line, but for every employee of any business – from the individual contributor to the CEO, explained Shep Hyken in this week’s #TChat .

Shepard Presentations’s Chief Amazement Officer spoke with us about the traditional ways of thinking of “customer service” – in the form of client facing professionals who help us throughout the sales process.

Shep then went on to highlight new, more collaborative ways of identifying what customer service can mean and who is really involved. Everyone, Shep explained, has a customer. If it is not the outside customer, then it is the internal customer – anyone within an organization who at any time is dependent on anyone else within the organization. This is the core of developing a powerful and positive internal culture. It is the understanding that everybody supports everybody else in the organization.

I hope you found the podcast and the our 30 minute live #TChat Twitter chat helpful in guiding you to a new pro-active customer-minded approach for your company culture. It definitely gave me something to think about when it comes to employees, recruiting, retention and overall brand and culture awareness.

Did You Miss The Podcast Show? Listen On BlogTalkRadioiTunes or Stitcher:

What’s Up Next? #TChat Returns Wednesday, May 6th from Cork, Ireland:

#TChat Radio Kicks Off at 1pm ET / 10am PT — Our weekly radio show runs 30 minutes. Usually, our social community joins us on Twitter as well. Next week’s topic: The Global Impact of Gender Diversity on Technology Business Performance.

#TChat Twitter Kicks Off at 1:30pm ET / 10:30am PT — Our halfway point begins with our highly engaging Twitter discussion. We take a social inside look at our weekly topic. Everyone is welcome to share their social insights #TChat.

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics through our weekly email newsletter. Signing up is just a click away!

Passive-Recruiting

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#TChat Recap: How To Turn Horrible Bosses Into Happier Relationships

A bad boss can undermine our ability to work happy and hard. Poor communication skills, micromanaging, lack of direction, bullying — any of these characteristics can make a boss difficult to work with leading to stress, anxiety, frustration, absenteeism and even depression.

This week we interviewed Tony Deblauwe, Founder of consulting firm HR4Change. Tony spoke about how to turn horrible bosses into happier relationships. Tony offered a relaxed and engaging dialogue with lots of practical advice and research mixed in with real life experiences like his startling encounter with a new boss as a young(er) pro in the recruitment sector.

The show highlighted powerful techniques for reinventing your relationship with your boss to turn ‘horrible into happier’. Questions posed to Tony and the #TChat community included: what are common signs of a horrible boss, how do you reduce negativity and create mutually beneficial results with your boss, and what can be done to improve corporate culture?

Did You Miss The Podcast Show? Listen On BlogTalkRadio, iTunes or Stitcher:

What’s Up Next? #TChat Returns Wednesday, April 29th:

#TChat Radio Kicks Off at 1pm ET / 10am PT — Our weekly radio show runs 30 minutes. Usually, our social community joins us on Twitter as well. Next week’s topic: Why Internal Customer Service Is So Important.

#TChat Twitter Kicks Off at 1:30pm ET / 10:30am PT — Our halfway point begins with our highly engaging Twitter discussion. We take a social inside look at our weekly topic. Everyone is welcome to share their social insights #TChat.

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics through our weekly email newsletter. Signing up is just a click away!

Passive-Recruiting

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4 Must-Read Hiring Tips For Newbie Bosses

Congratulations! You’ve already rounded a few hurdles of starting a business — you’ve made the decision it’s something you’re motivated to do and you’ve set the wheels in motion to make it happen. The type of business you’re starting will determine the type of employee you need and their skill set — even whether you need one or more.

If you’re in a position where you’ve been operating solo for a while, but you need help with the day-to-day operations, you might seek someone with similar skills to your own, but who can be your right-hand as the business grows. Alternately, you might be well-equipped to run the venture, but you need someone with a set of expertise you don’t have so you can broaden your offerings.

Either way, hiring your first — or any — employee has legal, personal and professional considerations to bear in mind.

Finding the perfect candidate

All of the above doesn’t matter until you can find the perfect hire. As an entrepreneur, you may not have a robust LinkedIn following you can advertise to, and your industry contacts could be limited. You might be leery of someone who’s quick to jump on the startup wagon; lots of people are looking for job security and like the comfort of an established business.

Start by mining your network. Put it out there that you’re looking, and have a specific and thorough job description ready. While you don’t want to poach an employee from someone in your network, you can use your network as a source for referrals.

Attending industry conferences or trade shows can also be a great way to find an employee. Use your personal social media network. You never know when a friend of a friend could be looking for a job and can be a great fit.

Share your vision

If this is your first hire, your company’s “culture” might be undetermined. But you should have an idea whether you want someone who will come to work in yoga pants or who will be more business casual. You also must be confident the employee is someone you trust in a client-facing capacity. Especially for small businesses, each person is a face of the company.

Even if you’ve hired someone to do back-end work, the reality is that if you need her in a pinch to interface with a client or the public, you should be confident she’ll represent your brand the way you want to be represented.

Try to ask questions that get to the heart of your candidate’s core philosophies. Ideally, you want someone who will complement your style, help you to grow as a businessperson and not butt heads. It’s not necessarily someone who will blindly follow you over a cliff, but who will add perspective to your growing business.

Dig deep

Entrepreneur gives a piece of advice that might run contrary to what you’ve heard before: Don’t trust your instincts. Trusting your gut is great in some circumstances, but conduct due diligence in hiring. If you wouldn’t buy a house with a handshake, don’t hire an employee with one, either.

Although you might get a great vibe from a candidate, do as thorough a background check as you can. You might be tempted to save a few bucks and search online for criminal records, verification of education and other background essentials, but the Internet is full of manufactured or doctored documents.

If your employee acts in a way that harms someone, you can be liable for those acts. Criminal records and other records can be fakes, though, and so can background check companies. The three trusted background checking companies are Sterling Global Background ChecksIntellicorpand Kroll. Like the “big three” credit reporting agencies, these companies are established and reputable.

Know the regulations in your industry. For example, if you’re operating a child care center, an employee likely needs to undergo additional background checks. If your employee will be driving certain classes of vehicles, other regulations need to be followed. These vary state to state, so know how to properly screen your employees based on the job description.

Certain questions are off-limits in an interview, but remain mindful of verifying your candidate’s immigration status. The U.S. Department of Labor has a wealth of resources to help you navigate the nitty-gritty of hiring.

You might need a few tries to get it right

Just like you’ve been hired for a job only to discover a few months later it wasn’t what you expected, you might hire someone who’s not the right fit. It happens. If you’re planning to sign an employment contract, make sure you can terminate the employee at-will any time. You can’t fire someone for discriminatory reasons, or for reasons that violate public policy (e.g., the filing of a worker’s compensation claim).

Hopefully, if it’s not a good fit, both you and the employee will recognize that, and it’ll make the transition smoother. If you do make a poor hiring choice, reflect on what went wrong, what you could have asked during an interview process that would have helped uncover what was problematic, and what you should have looked for but didn’t.

As an entrepreneur, you’re bound to make mistakes, but use them as opportunities for growth so that you can do better next time.

(About the Author: Noble McIntyre is the founding partner and owner of a personal injury law firm, McIntyre Law based in Oklahoma City. He’s dedicated to making his community better through his partnership with Lawyers Against Hunger.) Originally posted here.

(Editor’s Note: This post was adapted from Brazen Life, with permission. Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, it offers edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work. Be Brazen!)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

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