#6Things: Accessible Hiring, Drama in the Bloggeratti and Skilled Trades Update

Drama is happening and I am not even in it

This week saw a lot of snark, drama and infighting among recruiters, HR pros and the bloggeratti that makes up our space. I nearly missed it but most of the dust-ups can be chalked up to one or more of the following things:

Lack of respect for someone’s body of work or expertise. I’ve experienced this and it’s very frustrating because there’s no way to clap back without sounding like it’s sour grapes. A lot of us started with a much smaller body of work than we have today but getting some people to understand that is like spitting in the wind. If you’re a newbie with lots to learn, people embrace you. But when you start building a reputation and book of established and verifiable business of your own, it gets ugly.

Straight-up trash talking. This is not okay. No one is perfect all the time and I get that a little gossip can be fun to indulge in but dang, Rob Mcintosh (@TheRobMcIntosh) said this is getting out of hand in our industry and he is RIGHT. Quit it.

Sweeping claims about a whole vertical. Today it’s employer branding, yesterday it was social recruiting. Get as frustrated as you want that companies are spending big money on something you think you can do easily, but they’re still gonna. Better to learn how to do it than get frustrated because you don’t immediately see the strategic value (when you’re looking at it just from one piece of the broader HR puzzle).

Anywho, I remember when we were all super good friends and even friendly ribbing was less than tolerated, and we were ALLLLLLLL way stupider then. Let’s go back to that, but keep all the lessons learned in the meantime? No? Okay. (Facebook)

*This isn’t about just one post. There have been a series of incidents over the last few months surrounding this topic. 

Sadly, I have never thought about this before

Roy Maurer (@SHRMRoy) wrote a story about making recruiting technology accessible, which I honestly have never thought about in my ABLE-ist life. Have you? Here are some things you may not have realized can affect making your career site and recruitment marketing materials accessible.

Some of the common difficulties job seekers with disabilities experience are:

• Complex navigation and timeout restrictions.
• Poor screen contrast.
• Applications that relied on color, graphics or text embedded with graphics to convey directions or important information.
• Images that conveyed information but did not have alternative text for individuals using screen readers.
• Applications that could not be navigated with keystrokes and required using a mouse.
• Videos or audio instructions that were not closed captioned.
• CAPTCHA tests—used to determine whether or not the user is human—without an audio option.
• Lack of information on how to request an accommodation.

Learn something new every day huh? (SHRM)

Unbelievable

No really, I don’t believe it. According to this slide and picture from #Intelligence16, 70% of corporate recruiters have never heard of Boolean. Glen Cathey who has an actual black belt in Boolean said it so it must be true but damn, they teach that in high school! (Facebook)

Skilled Trades are Growing (like a lot)

Boomers hold many skilled trade positions and as we all know, they are retiring very soon. Machinists, electricians, electrical and electronic repairers, stationary engineers and more have a LOT of people 55 and older and slightly less 45 and older. It’s time to start paying attention. Good thing all our infrastructure is in such good condition. LOL. (Adecco)

Bringing Humanity back to Hiring

This is a fantastic article by Lever co-founder Sarah Nahm (@srhnhm) about how her company is going beyond ATS (which is funny, because it IS an ATS). It follows a trend I’m seeing from other HR technology companies, who are starting to become true “employers of choice” and practice what they preach. Candidate relationships, baby. (LinkedIn)

Entelo, Take The Interview and Glassdoor Get the Benjamins

Three companies announced some serious cabbage takedowns this week (or last, I forgot to do #6things last week). (PRNewswire , 3tsCapital, and TechCrunch)

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.