Getting Ready for the Workplace: Recruiting for Your New Employer

Having a professional network is far more important than most new workers realize. In this blog series, “Getting Ready for the Workplace,” we will address the role of professional networks in finding positions, advancing your career, and learning for professional development. But there is more, much more.

Did it ever occur to you that as a new employee you might be recruiting immediately for your company?

Yes, it is quite possible and for a variety of reasons.

In “Here Are 3 Hiring Trends That LinkedIn Says You MUST Know,” in Business Insider (April 18, 2013), we learn that LinkedIn.com, the preeminent social media for professionals, enables employers to adopt an entirely new recruitment strategy: don’t hire the people looking for jobs, hire the ones who aren’t looking for a job. Why? Recruiters explain: “smart  companies realize that to hire the best and brightest, they must target candidates not actively looking for new jobs.” They call this strategy Passive Candidate Recruitment.

How does this relate to a Public Policy graduate on her first day on the job?

On your first day on the job, you may have access to an internal jobs bulletin board (often electronic these days).  It might not occur to you to check those internal electronic job boards on your first day or week. Don’t you have more important things to do? Why would you want to take the time to do it?

First, hiring patterns could indicate high turnover, or strong internal promotions, or organizational growth. These are strategically important to you now and in the future and may suggest elements of organizational culture and strategies. 

Second, many firms are now actively providing incentives for their current employees to refer potentially good candidates to them for current or upcoming job openings. Yes, that’s right; some firms actually offer monetary rewards to employees who refer an excellent candidate to their organization for hiring. 

Now, we are back to professional networking and your LinkedIn connections.  The bigger your professional network, the greater the chance is you might actually know someone appropriate for an opening in your organization. You can make that referral. Even if your organization does not provide a “finder’s fee” for such referrals, you can save your organization thousands of dollars in recruitment with your referral.

So, as soon as you enter an organization, your professional network becomes an even more valuable asset for you and your employer. In fact, many recruiters actually look at the size and quality of your professional “connections” (network) on Linkedin as a critierion in the hiring processes.

And your referral of a “connection” to your employer could have added advantages to you, your employer, and your professional “connection.”  If you understand the organizational culture and your professional colleague well, you may be the person best situated to determine if he or she would fit into the “organizational culture.” If your estimation proves correct, your employer will gain an employee who fits and is thus more satisfied, more productive, and more likely to be retained. You can work with a colleague with whom you already have rapport, and thus your work satisifaction and performance may rise.

Yes, on your first day on the job, you could recruit for your organization. If not that day, the day will eventually come, if you are building continuously a quality professional network. Keep building your LinkedIn profile and network. Start today.

Getting Ready for the Workplace: Fitting into Organizational Culture

In ”Organizational Culture & Employee Performance,” Julie Davoren defines “organizational culture” as “the way employees complete tasks and interact with each other in an organization.”  She explains its connection to employee performance this way: “Organizational cultures can have varying impacts on employee performance and motivation levels. Oftentimes, employees work harder to achieve organizational goals if they consider themselves to be part of the corporate culture.”

How can a Public Policy graduate prepare to “fit” into organizational culture before her first day of work?

• Take the Public Policy course “Organizational Theory.”
• Take the Public Policy course “Scientific Careers and Workplaces.”
• Apply what you learn in that course to learn about an organization’s culture before you even apply for a position. (Review their webpage. Read their annual performance report. Talk to their clients and stakeholders.)
• Ask questions about the organization’s structure and culture during interviews. 
• Reflect on what type of organizational culture would optimize your own performance as an employee.
• Consider how your personality, preferences, and work style might impact the organization’s culture.
• Decide if “you” are a good “fit” for the organization and if the “organization” is a good “fit” for you.

How can the Public Policy graduate “fit” into an organization’s culture on day one of work?

• Arrive with a plan or strategy for how you will fit into the organizational culture.
• Test your assumptions throughout the day.
• Start and end the day by listening intently to what is said and unsaid.
• Read organizational policies and procedures.
• Observe group dynamics and behavior.
• Understand the meaning of organizational symbols, rituals and history.
• Focus on systems and processes, not just personalities in the workplace.
• Don’t attach too much significance to initial feelings of “not fitting in.” Those feelings are natural and should fade with time if you chose wisely to work there.
• Don’t focus on “standing” out among your work colleagues. On day one, your job is to “fit in.” You can build your “brand” as a professional over time. 
• You may have an aptitude for leadership, but resist the desire to “define” what organizational culture should be. Even new senior managers take time to learn the culture they have entered before they attempt to change it.
• Recognize that for the first few weeks or months, others will be assessing your suitability for the organization. Be prepared to adapt to collective expectations; they are part of “organizational culture.”

We all know first impressions count. Starting a new job involves innumerable “first impressions” as you will continually meet new people: co-workers, managers, clients, and other stakeholders.  Your Public Policy degree has provided you both technical and managerial knowledge and skills to deal effectively with these challenges.  Apply what you have learned with quiet confidence. 

If you are interested in additional education on organizational culture, you may wish to consider graduate degrees in Public Policy, Organizational Psychology, Organizational Leadership, and other similar disciplines.

New Blog Column–Getting Ready for the Workplace: Relationships

Are you ready for your first full-time position?

Yes, you’ve completed your university studies. Yes, you have a marketable degree. Yes, you have graduated from a prestigious university, Georgia Institute of Technology. Yes, you even know what you want to do with your career and are eager to get started with your career.

But on your first day of work when you walk in the door of your workplace, will you be ready for workplace challenges? In this new blog column, we will address a series of workplace issues from business etiquette and office politics to time management and networking.

Today, we are talking about professional relationships in the workplace. Vivian Giang, in her article, “The 4 Most Important Relationships You Need at Work,” in Open Forum, describes four key relationships you will need to identify, build and manage in the workplace and this process begins the moment you enter your workplace. (Remember: first impressions are very important!)  Although Giang is speaking to small business owners, her advice is relevant for all professionals, particularly in an era when “professional branding” and “professional networking” are strongly emphasized for professional entry and advancement. We draw on her insights and apply them to Public Policy students and graduates.

1.  Targeted Relationships

Even before you enter your first worplace, you should have already identified some targeted relationships, that is, your peers and competitors. How might you do this? Start with your classmates as a student. Then consider alumni from your degree program. Then network at professional association events. Pick up business cards along the way. Add as many peers and “friendly” competitors to your professional network via your LinkedIn profile. Start networking. Start learning. Evaluate your competition. Build alliances. Don’t start your first day on the job without a professional network.

Then, once you start that first job out of college, start building alliances and networking within your own workplace. Learn how relationships are expressed within the organizational culture. Listen for insights into the behavior and reputations of others. Start “branding” yourself by consciously building your repuation. Are you the “technically competent” worker? The “negotiator”? The “problem-solver”? The “organizational man”? The “P.R. person” for your group? What sets you apart from others in a positive, progressive way?

2.  Tentative Relationships

But it is likely that when you walk in that workplace for the first time, you may know almost nobody, so you will start with more tentative relationships.  Start those “tentative relationships” with others immediately. Introduce yourself to your colleagues. Don’t wait for them to greet you. Go to lunch with your work group.  But don’t become “that guy who is always asking for help.”  Try to solve your own problems. Instead, learn about your colleagues. What have they contributed to the organization? Compliment them on their accomplishments. Identify what information or resources your colleagues might want. If you have it, share it.  This is about finding your place within an existing organizational ecology and work group. 

3.  Transactional Relationships

Your work will likely enable you to interact with clients or stakeholders or other important business relationships outside of your workplace.  These are important relationships too. They cannot be neglected.  As your “tentative relationships” to share their insights on those outside “transactional relationships.”  Understand their goals, needs, behaviors, and preferences, so that you can respond most effectively with them.  Build a databases of these clients or vendors. Know when and where you will interact with them.  It could be your tomorrow.  You “brand” yourself with them as well. You want them to see you as a credible and competent representative of your organization. Remember: if they are not happy with your performace, your supervisor will likely hear from them.

4.  Trusted Relationships

Over time, learn who you can “trust” in your workplace. Search for a potential mentor. She need not be in your work group or even in your particular career pathway.  Don’t rush the search for a mentor. Let it develop naturally over time.  Let it be offered to you either directly or implied.  Demonstrate on day one that you are a trustworthy person. Show integrity in all things.  Be reliable in all things.  Maintain confidences at all times.  Avoid office gossip.  Don’t spread rumors. 

Building trusted relationships might happen spontaneously or it might take months or years to build. Be patient with each person. Let each relationship build naturally over time.  Show respect and consideration at every opportunity.

If you understand how to identify, build and maintain relationships, you will acquire additional professional credibility. Your reputation will be enhanced. But don’t wait for that first day at work to begin practicing. Start today. Identify the types of relationships you have with professors, fellow classmates, and others where you might have a part-time job. 

You can walk into your first workplace skilled at identifying, building and maintaining all types of relationships. Use LinkedIn.com to build your network. Add notes on people’s profile to help you identify the type of relationship you have with them and how you might build it further.  Be strategic.  Be persistent.  Be consistent.  Start today.