Inclusive recruitment? Really?

So much talk of inclusion. We are barely scratching the surface. I have recently had a couple of interviews – I am not used to them, most of my work comes from conversations, word of mouth and/or head hunting – and it was very clear that in standard interviews anyone with any neurodivergence is immediately disadvantaged. Most roles, even those at this level (CEO/ED/NED) do not often require immediate decisions and when they do there is backstory and planning to support those decisions. And yet mainstream interviews have little real space for reflection and pause, ebb and flow. A snapshot of instant answers, many of which are sound bites learned by candidates to offer “correct” answers, is almost all that is achieved. I understand the need for engagement and assessment of capacity during recruitment, I have been on all sides of that table! And I get that good recruiters have a “sense”. But surely by now we can think more creatively? And I don’t mean those little “IQ” tests or forced and awkward tea and bun moments, although those are in reality probably more helpful. I would have thought a record of achievement, a relevant history, a degree of synergised character and vision, and a clear commitment were at the top of the list for recruiters and those are often not best assessed by rote. The best have a conversation with candidates, questions are almost invisible, answers elicited with skill and care. There is a way to ensure that all candidates have a similar experience, and therefore equal opportunities, without tick-boxing our way through it.

This isn’t a pop at recruiters (some of my best friends…), or a complaint, it is a look at how we can recruit more inclusively. As someone with a level of neurodivergence perhaps I am more keenly alive to areas for improvement. Also having been around a long (long) time I have many and varied experiences to compare and differences to note. We have come quite a long way but I think it is clear we have further to go.

Finally, I think it is likely that recruiters and employers sometimes miss the very people who would bring the most value to the role they wish to fill simply through adherence to traditional ways of interviewing or recruiting. That is both sad and a waste and to my knowledge has led to challenges and problems further down the line that may have been avoided by better recruitment. I should also add that I had a good “interview” recently, with people who didn’t mind being human, who seemed actually interested in the person and responded to that, and who had charm and empathy. It isn’t hard…

#work #recruitment #opportunities #people #inclusion #engagement

And breathe….

So I can now claim, confidently, that I can breathe without pain. The Old Man and I have experienced the Coronavirus to varying degrees and are now on the way up – he is quite a bit younger than me which may be why I am taking that little bit longer. It has been a challenge. We are lucky, we are emerging, and for that we are grateful. Not quite there yet but very much within touching distance. And what a journey, individually and corporately!

One of my organisations, based in beautiful Folkestone, responded quickly, intelligently and well to the original challenges and transformed, almost overnight, from being  a very much in-person service to an effective online support service with the people working within behaving almost as if they had been preparing for this for months. Astonishing, uplifting and rewarding to see such agility and dedication. And that has been replicated across so many organisations and individuals, with another of my organisations setting up, again almost overnight, an entire volunteer system to support those unable to get out or access other means of help; the local NHS Trust with which I am a governor really upped its game and demonstrated genuine and intelligent care for the people within and drew some positivity – despite the very real and distressing events – as an outcome. People have been quite simply brilliantly creative and selfless. One of my daughters works in the NHS, another in a charity offering supported living as does my son and they have been beacons of care and support.

And in the midst of it all I found myself confined to bed with abdominal pain and struggling to breathe. I was a nurse about 150 years ago and so of course avoid hospitals at all costs and have remained at home, through the scary bits and now emerging into the less scary bits; I have been worried that I may have passed it on to people I care about and scared because the act of breathing, the thing of life itself, could no longer be taken for granted. The people about whom I care seem to have been untouched so, tick for that concern. And I can now breathe without concentrating so tick that too – but the inability to pull quite enough air into me remains, and serves as a tangible reminder not to take anything for granted: waking up in the morning, holding my family to me, walking further than  the end of the bed…so many things. I have promised myself to remember this. Always.

And another thing to pack carefully onto that shelf in the back of my head and remember: I am used to working from home running my own business as well as working for other organisations so initially the jump from site to home was no big deal. The issue became when to stop…as I was home anyway, and being who I am, I cracked on behind the screen, sounding like Darth Vader on zoom and conference calls,  refusing to scroll back but becoming ever more irritated that I couldn’t do as much as I wanted. Quelle surprise, I was sick, but the ingrained work ethic and the brain are slow to acknowledge that. At last, and bizarrely only once I started to improve, the fatigue made the decision for me. I rested. Memo to self: don’t be a fool. The love and care of my family and friends has warmed and sustained me and I will not spoil that by taking less care of myself.

So, much to take away from  this. Gratitude, empathy, relief, some self awareness, a shedload of admiration for people, a wake up call. To witness the love, kindness, resilience and commitment that people and communities have shared has been humbling. I am glad I saw it. I am changed as a person as a result. I like the change.

Health improving literally daily and normality hoving into view, a kaleidoscope of new perspectives tumbling around my head and bringing a fresh Spring scent to life and a bright and exciting horizon. I am joyfully climbing back into that saddle any day now and I do not intend to waste  a moment of my second chance.

Onward and Upward, truly, madly and deeply.

 

Recruitment? Don’t make me laugh. Seriously.

I am passionate about recruitment – it is one job we really have to get right, so crucial it squeaks. Without the right people in the right places we might as well fold and go home. And the time and effort we have to put in if we get it too wrong is unbearable. After laughing until I also squeaked about a recent interview experience of my chum  – to be described at various points in this blog but briefly it was a bit 1970s sitcom awful – I drifted off into a daydream about what it is that makes recruitment go well. So here goes.

I have worked with too many organisations who don’t actually know what they want in a candidate, or even in a role, but plough on anyway perhaps thinking they know or perhaps not knowing what knowing and not knowing looks like. Bear with.  Looking in from outside, understanding where the organisation has come from and where it is now (which happens because of conversations that are had….), without the emotional investment in the place that people often develop, I can often see a different picture. Organisation A thinks they want a process driven go-getter with bells and whistles to grow the business – what they really need is a relationship builder who will warm up the group and grow friends for them and grow it that way. What organisation B thinks they need is a chummy friend to get the best out of people – what they actually need is a ballsy battleaxe who will weed out those irksome poorly practicing people and replace them with the right ones so that the good ones are enabled and retained. All without a damp eye but with definite precision and skill. On the inside it can be difficult to see clearly for all the fog of commitment, fear, pressures, emotional baggage, time constraints. From the outside none of those things impact and the clear air allows a forensic view to be taken. So often, before we even get as far as a JD PS and advertisement we are on the wrong tracks.

Tip one: be rigorously clear about what is needed and before you can do that, be rigorously clear about why you are recruiting. What outcome do you actually need rather than what kind of person do you think you want?

So, we have decided what we want. Now we set about finding the who.

My chums sitcom style interview (if only that had been intentional……) was such a hoot he was almost left lost for words. Props: a desk, some chairs, people with double sided A4 pages covered in pre-set questions (probably taken off t’internet) who were congenitally unable to deviate from script. Questions that seemed unrelated to the job itself (asking someone if they can perform a certain task, apart from begging an affirmative – who says they are crap at things during interview?! – relies on that task being relevant to the job ) demonstrate very clearly the interviewers own lack of skill and understanding. It was almost as weird as asking someone interviewing for a job as an HGV driver if they can ski or  bake bread. A bit WTF.

Interviews, which only occur after a bit of screening, should be a conversation, not a set of boxes that get ticked. Those boxes will tick themselves if you talk in the right way. Sitting behind a desk asking a series of usually pretty meaningless questions (“describe your management style” “well pretty shite really, I am a bully and I hate my colleagues”……..) is the death knell for relationship building. We talk endlessly about networking, the how why and wherefore, and in reality interviews are the budding start of a working relationship and an opportunity to connect. Wasted if we just sit there asking if someone knows which piece of legislation goes where, but so so useful if we chat about experience and knowledge and see the person. A personality unfolds in front of us, we share stuff, we connect. Even if that person isn’t the right one for this job that relationship is started, and who knows where you might all end up. There are lots of bits of research, practice guidance, training courses, manuals, that all try to teach people about interviewing and recruitment, but at heart, once you know what you are looking for and  realise you might find it in an unexpected place, having a conversation is the best way to find the right person. The rest follows.

So, Tip two: throw away the bog standard question-and-answer nonsense. Have a nice conversation that everyone can enjoy being sure to incorporate those requirements without making a big fat hairy deal of them. Be interested in the candidate, who is, after all, a person, and one with background, experiences, views, skills and probably a nice sense of humour and some pictures of their kids/grandkids that would be nice to see, possibly some Out There hobbies that would grab you, maybe even a great recipe for soda bread (yes, I blagged a really good soda bread recipe during an interview – it was brilliant).

Finally, if someone has taken the trouble to apply for a job, has had a detailed conversation with a recruiter or similar about it and has been put forward, courtesy kind of tells you that a quick email or phone call with the outcome would be appreciated. It would be good manners. It would be kind. Not, as happened recently, the candidate following up and receiving an email by return that simply said “This position is no longer available”. Nothing else, nada, zip, tumbleweed. In what realm is that ok? Even just in terms of relationship management – presumably that candidate will remember that recruiter in the future, perhaps when recruiting to positions themselves. But really just common courtesy, which after all oils the wheels of relationships.

And I guess that is really where I am heading with this. Our whole journey is about relationships. Trust, courtesy, honesty, purpose. If what we are doing is a barrier to that rather than a bridge we are doing it wrong. If we are doing it wrong, it will not go well for us.

So……have a chat, make some coffee and get out the good biscuits, make sure there are enough cushions and the room is warm without being oppressive. And if you are recruiting to a social care or health care post, make sure the people that will be on the receiving end are at the heart of it – not a boltontokenpopinboxtickingshallow here-we-are-with-some-punters-aren’t-we-inclusive-and-personcentred-and-lovely effort, but a genuine involvement with proper engagement and listening to the people with the lived experience and then using that and showing it working alongside each other.

Are you hearing the passion, that real passion I have for recruiting? Well, if you are recruiting and you don’t feel that passion you might want to get someone else to do it for you………….I mean it kindly. xx

 

 

I am worried about you……

I am worried about you. Seriously.

Scene setting: I have matured well, professionally. I do a pretty good job without fanfare and hullabaloo. I am ambitious, always, for the organisation hiring me, but personally, not much. I just want to do a job that is engaging, makes a difference, pays the bills and allows me to do my thing and meet people I like. Mostly that means being quite a bit senior, responsible,  knowledgeable, and I enjoy that. It is where I sit best. Worth hiring, more than competent, happy where I am, unimpressed by job titles, efficient, a bit zippy, a bit quirky, funny when you know me, incredibly (possibly surprisingly…) interested in what makes you tick, passionate about some stuff, and I know what works, really well. Have been there, done that, and understand the value. In short I have been around the block and have knocked it into shape a few times.

And I worry about people. You. People being urged to set goals, reach for the stars, be the best, win win win, go for it, push push push, told they can have it all if they only work harder, strive better, sleep less, plan better, attend the courses, buy the product, network network network.

My best networks are made up of people I just like and respect, I don’t really give a damn if they will “further my career” (whatever that is) or be “of use”. And I don’t usually go without. It works. My best pitch is just to do a great job. That works too. And my most enjoyable, satisfying  work has come from places I am passionate about – not furthering my career  or making my name, but making things better for people who have to use or work inside services and facilities. Not covering up when an organisation screws up, but facing that and making it better, making amends, making stuff happen in the best way it can. Validating and valuing everyone.

It makes me happy to do that.

What I have seen – increasingly – is that those people working in health or social support or allied organisations for their career prospects, to make their name and their fortune, are the ones whose mess I sometimes have to clean up. The ones who cause pain and grief rather than reducing it, who misunderstand what health and social care and support or charitable groups are actually for. Their drive to set career goals, to win, to achieve (for themselves) sets aside all other considerations and removes the ability to view the people they serve as, well, the people they serve. That is not right, attractive or humane. Sometimes, for sure, it is just that they have been promoted beyond their ability and capacity, usually by people with the same outlook. And perhaps malice doesn’t enter into it, just incompetence or avarice, the road to Hell being paved with such. But it is definitely a Thing…….

With all the complex safeguards and governance we now have, one would hope that cruelty, negligence, incompetence, abuse might be eradicated, but far from it. The very complexity of the systems creates a vacuum in which chaos is allowed to thrive and systems are so muddled and misused that people with an agenda and an axe grinding away behind them can use the system expertly and avoid – mostly – consequences.

And there we are: I worry about people being told to strive for “success” with very loose parameters around what that means. Numerous courses, sites, companies, ready to sell people ways to succeed which take little account of genuine personal happiness, desire and responsibility. As an old battleaxe I can see from the top of this hill (and not yet over it by a long way, most certainly……..) how dangerous those things are.

A plea – enjoy what you do. Success is measured in different ways and your way is probably not my way and is almost certainly not the way of the people selling you success plans and schemes. Smell the coffee, taste the cake, see the people, enjoy their company, believe in what you do. Make chums. Make coffee. Eat cake. Did I mention coffee? The most attractive people to work with and for, for me, have been those who genuinely give a damn about their purpose and believe what they do matters, not those who just want to climb. There are many of them about, thank goodness. And here’s the thing: they are often, almost always, the most successful………….

Go, make coffee. Bring me cake. xx

 

 

 

The damn book

One more martini, spoken, not slurred

One last anecdote, edges slightly blurred

Got to go home now, that next drink is deferred

Leave while ahead, now, dignity preferred.

 

Weave up the stairs now, miss the last one

Hit the sack before morning, avoiding the sun

Drink a pint of water, has to be done

What pain we endure just to have fun.

 

Wake with a headache, fumble for pills

Damn birds and their chatter, squawks and shrills

Move slowly, look down, give up, lose the will

Lie back wait for sanity, try to be still

 

Another one this evening, no way not to go

The party is for me and it matters, I know

The books out this week and we have to make a show

It’s what they expect: go, be that braggadocio

 

Just take the damn Milk Thistle.