Comments on: Company and employee sampling – the way to tasty hires and careers http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/ Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:54:19 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Employers Blog http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/comment-page-1/#comment-11430 CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Employers Blog Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:50:10 +0000 http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/#comment-11430 <strong>Everybody Loves a Free Lunch...</strong> If you've ever wandered around (http://www.wholefoods.com) Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch....... Everybody Loves a Free Lunch…

If you’ve ever wandered around (http://www.wholefoods.com) Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch…….

]]> By: Water Cooler Wisdom : CollegeRecruiter.com Blogswap: Everyone Loves a Free Lunch http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/comment-page-1/#comment-10624 Water Cooler Wisdom : CollegeRecruiter.com Blogswap: Everyone Loves a Free Lunch Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:01:30 +0000 http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/#comment-10624 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] CollegeRecruiter.com Blogswap: Everyone Loves a Free Lunch Over the next few months, we’re going to be doing a blogswap with CollegeRecruiter.com.  This means that while I will still continue to post several times a week, you will also be treated to the wise musings of guest career bloggers.  We’re kicking things off with a post from Susan Strayer, a career and organization development expert who blogs at Kaleidoblog.     If you've ever wandered around Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch.   So it makes sense: product sampling works, right?  Why not job sampling?  Check out this post (from a cool, new blog I like, Exceler8ion, about social media and online recruitment marketing).   I responded to their post on the idea of job sampling...great in theory.  But here's the thing.  While job sampling sounds cool, it reminds me of why I came to Business School in the first place--to anticipate the capitalistic response.   Meaning, making the business case that job sampling isn't a cost nightmare seems next to impossible.  Which is why I am more a proponent of On-the-Job previews or Realistic Job Previews (RJT)--videos that show a real day-in-the-life in a particular job or position.   Switching roles from capitalist to customer--I hear the masses: "If the company creates the RJT, they how do we know it is really realistic?  How do we know it isn't manipulated to avoid the downfalls of negative sides of the job?"   I think this is the real question to answer.   Thanks, Susan! Published Tuesday, November 21, 2006 7:30 AM by AlexandraLevit Filed Under: Current Affairs, Business, Job Hunting, Personal Development, Work [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> [...] CollegeRecruiter.com Blogswap: Everyone Loves a Free Lunch Over the next few months, we’re going to be doing a blogswap with CollegeRecruiter.com.  This means that while I will still continue to post several times a week, you will also be treated to the wise musings of guest career bloggers.  We’re kicking things off with a post from Susan Strayer, a career and organization development expert who blogs at Kaleidoblog.     If you’ve ever wandered around Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch.   So it makes sense: product sampling works, right?  Why not job sampling?  Check out this post (from a cool, new blog I like, Exceler8ion, about social media and online recruitment marketing).   I responded to their post on the idea of job sampling…great in theory.  But here’s the thing.  While job sampling sounds cool, it reminds me of why I came to Business School in the first place–to anticipate the capitalistic response.   Meaning, making the business case that job sampling isn’t a cost nightmare seems next to impossible.  Which is why I am more a proponent of On-the-Job previews or Realistic Job Previews (RJT)–videos that show a real day-in-the-life in a particular job or position.   Switching roles from capitalist to customer–I hear the masses: “If the company creates the RJT, they how do we know it is really realistic?  How do we know it isn’t manipulated to avoid the downfalls of negative sides of the job?”   I think this is the real question to answer.   Thanks, Susan! Published Tuesday, November 21, 2006 7:30 AM by AlexandraLevit Filed Under: Current Affairs, Business, Job Hunting, Personal Development, Work [...]

]]> By: Julian http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/comment-page-1/#comment-7123 Julian Tue, 31 Oct 2006 03:30:24 +0000 http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/#comment-7123 Hi Susan, great comments! I think that most ANY tool that provides a candidate with additional *real* information about a job or company would be helpful. So, your RJP is certainly interesting. How about the employer though? Do they get a video of the employee IM'ing their buddies and reading their MySpace page in between meetings and e-mails on their current job? ;-) You make good points about cost and I'm still not convinced that job sampling would be more expensive than bad hires over the long run. From experienced in corporate America, managers and companies often ignore underperformers that are hurting their business for years before finally doing something about the person. I'm talking about even basic management interventions like coaching - never mind the big kahuna, termination. How much does that cost? While I acknowledge that measuring ROI here would be difficult, I do think it could be done and I feel it would be less expensive in the long run. Your last point is where I get stuck with this concept though as well. Risk to the employes. The personal risk of being out on your ass in 6 months would deter all but the most self assured of individuals. In a job market like we have now I think you have a much better shot at it working since there's a really good chance of landing somewhere else. Thanks for writing in. Hi Susan, great comments! I think that most ANY tool that provides a candidate with additional *real* information about a job or company would be helpful. So, your RJP is certainly interesting. How about the employer though? Do they get a video of the employee IM’ing their buddies and reading their MySpace page in between meetings and e-mails on their current job? ;-)

You make good points about cost and I’m still not convinced that job sampling would be more expensive than bad hires over the long run. From experienced in corporate America, managers and companies often ignore underperformers that are hurting their business for years before finally doing something about the person. I’m talking about even basic management interventions like coaching – never mind the big kahuna, termination. How much does that cost? While I acknowledge that measuring ROI here would be difficult, I do think it could be done and I feel it would be less expensive in the long run. Your last point is where I get stuck with this concept though as well. Risk to the employes. The personal risk of being out on your ass in 6 months would deter all but the most self assured of individuals. In a job market like we have now I think you have a much better shot at it working since there’s a really good chance of landing somewhere else. Thanks for writing in.

]]> By: Susan Strayer http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/comment-page-1/#comment-7024 Susan Strayer Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:00:54 +0000 http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/#comment-7024 While I love the idea of sampling, I guarantee you the capitalistic revolt will be, well, revolting. See, while I agree that sampling works for products, and is an interesting idea for jobs, from a cost perspective, the 6-month contract is scary. There's the hiring costs, the separation costs (if it doesn't work out) and the cultural costs--there are studies on how long it takes new hires to become ingrained in the culture leading to effective teamwork. The capitalist in me (yes, B-School does that to you no matter how hard I try) also says that hiring managers will be fearful of the added costs even if you make a good case otherwise. I think that's why so many companies are going the OTJ or RJP (realistic job preview) route so external candidates can sample without scaring the internal capitalists. PS: the career coach in me thinks that OTJ and and RJPs are the best methods of sampling to find your career sweet spot--as any job hopper will tell you, actual on the job sampling is mentally and physically exhausting, as well as a personal risk (contract ends and you don't have something else...) While I love the idea of sampling, I guarantee you the capitalistic revolt will be, well, revolting. See, while I agree that sampling works for products, and is an interesting idea for jobs, from a cost perspective, the 6-month contract is scary. There’s the hiring costs, the separation costs (if it doesn’t work out) and the cultural costs–there are studies on how long it takes new hires to become ingrained in the culture leading to effective teamwork. The capitalist in me (yes, B-School does that to you no matter how hard I try) also says that hiring managers will be fearful of the added costs even if you make a good case otherwise. I think that’s why so many companies are going the OTJ or RJP (realistic job preview) route so external candidates can sample without scaring the internal capitalists.

PS: the career coach in me thinks that OTJ and and RJPs are the best methods of sampling to find your career sweet spot–as any job hopper will tell you, actual on the job sampling is mentally and physically exhausting, as well as a personal risk (contract ends and you don’t have something else…)

]]> By: Jason Warner http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/comment-page-1/#comment-5952 Jason Warner Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:37:51 +0000 http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/#comment-5952 Two comments: First, if you've ever visited our fine establishments (and I know that you have), sampling is a key way we encourage customers to experience a new product at Starbucks. Many customers are creatures of habit (and here is where I must express my concern over the draw that low-budget tacos seem to have on you two...'like moths to a flame' imagery comes immediatelly to mind) so to break this habit we offer those tiny little sample cups so that your taste buds can experience the cornucopia of flavors that our newest beverages have to offer. See, we draw you into our web that way so that Pumpkin Spice becomes YOUR COFFEE. Secondly, we used to offer what we called an On The Job Experience (OTJ) for potential store manager hires. Before you accepted our offer of employment, we would let you experience life in the store by working a shift (and paying you), with the idea that a realistic job preview might drive engagement and diminish turnover. We dismantled the program due to high administration costs and increasingly complex labor law legislation. In the end, it didn't seem to offer much ROI. We then attempted to recreate a realistic job preview via interactive media (cool A/V multimedia CD) but it never really worked, mostly due to the legal risks involved with disclosing too much (no comment lest a diatribe on the legal department ensue). All of this said, I think there's future upside in driving this level of transparency. Can I interest you in a our new maple macchiato? see for grins: http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/starbucks-maple-macchiato?opendocument&comments Two comments: First, if you’ve ever visited our fine establishments (and I know that you have), sampling is a key way we encourage customers to experience a new product at Starbucks. Many customers are creatures of habit (and here is where I must express my concern over the draw that low-budget tacos seem to have on you two…’like moths to a flame’ imagery comes immediatelly to mind) so to break this habit we offer those tiny little sample cups so that your taste buds can experience the cornucopia of flavors that our newest beverages have to offer. See, we draw you into our web that way so that Pumpkin Spice becomes YOUR COFFEE.

Secondly, we used to offer what we called an On The Job Experience (OTJ) for potential store manager hires. Before you accepted our offer of employment, we would let you experience life in the store by working a shift (and paying you), with the idea that a realistic job preview might drive engagement and diminish turnover. We dismantled the program due to high administration costs and increasingly complex labor law legislation. In the end, it didn’t seem to offer much ROI. We then attempted to recreate a realistic job preview via interactive media (cool A/V multimedia CD) but it never really worked, mostly due to the legal risks involved with disclosing too much (no comment lest a diatribe on the legal department ensue).

All of this said, I think there’s future upside in driving this level of transparency.

Can I interest you in a our new maple macchiato?

see for grins:

http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/starbucks-maple-macchiato?opendocument&comments

]]> By: Shannon http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/comment-page-1/#comment-5562 Shannon Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:57:21 +0000 http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/#comment-5562 I love this idea and think that it makes a lot of sense - but hiring managers and recruiters would have to move away from their bias toward "job hoppers" if this practice was ever adopted. Most interviewers wouldn't respond pragmatically when a candidate responds - <blockquote>yes, I've held 3 jobs in the last year and a half - but we were just trying each other out.</blockquote> :-) I love this idea and think that it makes a lot of sense – but hiring managers and recruiters would have to move away from their bias toward “job hoppers” if this practice was ever adopted. Most interviewers wouldn’t respond pragmatically when a candidate responds -

yes, I’ve held 3 jobs in the last year and a half – but we were just trying each other out.

:-)

]]> By: SusanStrayer.com http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/comment-page-1/#comment-7273 SusanStrayer.com Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.exceler8ion.com/2006/10/19/company-and-employee-sampling-the-way-to-tasty-hires-and-careers/#comment-7273 <!--%kramer-pre%-->ever wandered around Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch So it makes sense right, product sampling works, why not job sampling? Check out this post from a cool, new blog I like (Exceler8ion), about social media and online recruitment marketing. I responded to their post on the idea of job sampling...great in theory. But here's the thing... <!--%kramer-post%--> ever wandered around Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch So it makes sense right, product sampling works, why not job sampling? Check out this post from a cool, new blog I like (Exceler8ion), about social media and online recruitment marketing. I responded to their post on the idea of job sampling…great in theory. But here’s the thing…

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