More than 1 in 3 workers in America are millennials, which is anyone between the age of 18 and 34 as of 2015. Since the beginning of my career I have had to overcome many stereotypical attributes associated with me because of my age/generation. I’d like to think that I’m not your typical millennial but after working on the top 10 positive attributes they bring, I’m completely okay with that label! I reached out to my social network (imagine that), tweeted, posted on Linkedin and Facebook and asked my professional and personal network what they thought were positive attributes of milleniials. Some I wouldn’t have thought because I feel like it comes naturally but maybe that is what makes us a benefit in some office environments.
1. Networking – They know how to build and leverage their networks online, on the plane and at Thirsty Thursday happy hour!
2. Communication – They know how to utilize multiple communication channels to keep their office in tune of their status and have a great understanding of appropriateness/professionalism.
3. Confidence – whether it is in a meeting, at a reception, or turning in a project, millennials are confident in their abilities and themselves.
Chances are if you work for an organization (non-profit or for profit) 10 years or more, you will likely experience a “re-org” or at least you should! The word “re-organization” or “re-org” for those of us that has been around for a while often carries with it a negative stereotype. But it can be a very positive experience if leadership within a given organization has both the awareness and vision to respond to marketplace trends while being in tune with internal human capital utilization. However, if leadership within a given organization sits back too long ignoring industry trends and doesn’t allow their talent to grow and experience achievement, they will find themselves struggling to compete long-term. There is a fine line between being proactive versus reactive when it comes to identifying the time for re-organization.
Below are 5 signs it may be time to re-org your organization:
Maybe you are happy a low performing employee is finally on their way out. Maybe you’re sorely disappointed your star employee is going to work for a competitor. Maybe you didn’t see this one coming or maybe you’ve expected it for a while. When an employee prepares to leave your organization you should be preparing for the exit interview.
More than eighty percent of organizations conduct exit interviews with employees according to the 2015 Agribusiness HR Review. For obvious reasons of course, you don’t know what you don’t know. Furthermore, you can’t create a better work environment if you are unaware of the problems that exist. You also can’t support and protect specific items that contribute to employee engagement if you are unaware of what those are. Regardless if your turnover rate is half a percent or 30 percent, an exit interview is a prime discovery opportunity for the company. Much can be gained from your employee’s thoughts and reflection on their experience while employed with you. There is value in learning from any employee how you may improve operations, culture, leadership, etc. Capturing and documenting feedback can be a first step in helping influence much needed change.
As a woman who grew up knowing I wanted to be a part of the agricultural industry, I never looked at myself and thought I was limited because of my gender. I never even saw agriculture as necessarily male-dominated or as a field where I couldn’t work alongside my male counterparts as equals. I loaded cattle onto a trailer and shoveled manure alongside my parents, my sister and my brothers; I led, volunteered and competed with young women and men in my high school FFA chapter; and today I partner with working men and women throughout North America in my role with AgCareers.com. I have simply always seen myself working as an individual every day to better the world somehow through my efforts, and agriculture seemed like a fulfilling and fun way for me to do just that.
It was only during a persuasion course during my pursuit of my undergraduate degree that I was opened to the generalization (arguably fact) that men are often better compensated for their work than women. Agriculture was one of the mentioned industries during that day’s study.
Carolyn Lee is AgCareers.com’s Account Manager for Western Canada. She covers the west coast of Canada through Saskatchewan. Carolyn also manages partnership clients in the upper Midwest United States and handles Compensation Benchmark Review (CBR) sales in Canada. She has been with AgCareers.com for just over four years and works out of the Guelph, Ontario office.
What do you do on a day-to-day basis?
My day consists of being on the phone quite a bit, usually with our partner clients or smaller companies who sign up on the site from Western Canada. I maintain optimum customer service for all of our clients, whether by phone or email. I also spend time corresponding with our team members, especially Beth [Hales, Director of Client Relations for AgCareers.com]. Even though I also take care of CBR sales in Canada, once it’s completed, I usually pass it on to Mary [Barefoot, Director of HR Services].
What do you enjoy most about working with AgCareers.com?
It’s a very satisfying job in that I enjoy working with our partnership clients. They post all of their jobs on our site. When I hear how many people they do hire or interview through our site, it’s rewarding to really know that that’s what we do and that we deliver that service. Sometimes we’re only posting one job with the other clients, and they don’t necessarily give that feedback. I build relationships with our partnership clients and we get that feedback where I know how successful our program is for that client. Also, when I’m able to solve a technology problem, that’s pretty satisfying as well.
One of our strategies for 2015 at AgCareers.com included the addition of a couple of “blogs” to our social media arsenal. Viola, now we have Talent Harvest, our blog for HR Professionals, and Career Cultivation for all levels of talent. While we have been talking about it for a couple of years, I must admit I really did not understand exactly what a blog was until early this year. While doing a little homework to educate myself, I fund the following definition: “Blogs serve as tools to deliver timely information with a personal touch in an informal or conversational style.”
When you conduct searches on the Internet for information, you will likely land on something interesting and not even realize that you have just read a blog. The cool thing about blogs is that you can subscribe (via email) to select blogs of interest and you will receive routine update notifications. There are literally thousands of blogs out there! Just Google some of the following: wine blogs, pet blogs, food blogs, vacation blogs, etc. and you will find all sorts. For our Human Resource and Recruiting professional friends, I would like to share a few blogs that I subscribe to and enjoy reading:
