Randi Frank HR Consulting

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Hiring an Intern Tip #4: How do you find Interns?

Tip 4 – How do you find Interns?

You’ve decided that an intern would be ideal for your company, what now? There are several ways to find interns. One of the best places to start is your local College or University. Many higher education programs now require internships (if they don’t they should). Several Universities have someone assigned to serve as the liaison for internships. If not, you can contact the department or major that is most closely related to your business (i.e. Accounting, Master’s in Business Administration, Communication, Technology, etc.).

Many professional associations have internship programs and they make direct contact with the colleges for you. Another option is your local workforce board. Many of them have youth work study programs. These are local students that often can work year round in some capacity, which helps alleviate the need to constantly train someone new.

Many firms have set up internships that require students to submit applications with the idea that after they train the intern and provide them with specific rotations in their firm they will be placed into a full time job. Since more people are talking about internships for college students there are now companies that are specifically available to find you interns for a fee and assist you with the whole process.

As a Human Resource professional and business owner, I was contacted by a University Professor who serves as the advisor to HR students. I am now getting resumes directly from students who have been referred to me by the Professor. This helps to ensure my internship opportunities match the right intern.

Questions? Contact me today!

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KY City & County Managers Association – Chapter of International City/County Management Association

I attended the KCCMA Annual Conference recently where we learned about trends in health insurance, how Hopkinsville planned for the Solar Eclipse and about Murry State University’s Martin School of Public Policy. Professor Morrison provided us an example of a municipal issue for discussion which we critiqued and talked about a better way to handle a similar situation. Then Jay McCord, a consultant, talked about Managing Multiple Generations in the Workforce.

He discussed how we have 4 generations working in the same workforce at this time. Traditionalist, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y-Millennials and the next group coming is Gen Z.  He compared it to a Salad Bowl where you have all types of people in one place and you need to get them to work together.  It is all about building relationships with each group and understanding where they are coming from – such as:

  • Traditionalist (before 1946)– Meet me – Love rules & structure- like to show their knowledge
  • Baby Boomers (1946-1966) – Call me – Want to make a difference – significant success – corner stone of Building is what they want to leave behind – leaders by influence – 10,000 retiring every day
  • Gen X – (1966-1981) email me – Smallest Generation – very individual – money, fulfilling job and health are important – they played video games for the score
  • Gen Y – (1981-2000) text me – Know technology, multi-taskers – want to change the world – community is important because they played games as a group – expect technology – use to Uber, Air BNB, Amazon, – understand services can be offered different way – will be 54% of workforce – de-institutionalize system and demand more from government
  • Gen Z – visual – You Tube

After this interesting speech we went to dinner at the Kentucky Castle – see some pictures attached.

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Southwest Woman’s Roundtable

I have been networking with a number of woman’s groups within the Louisville Metro area to make more connections for my business. I attended my first meeting of the Southwest Woman’s Roundtable a group of woman in business that focus on their businesses in the Southwest part of Louisville.  They meet each month to support each other’s business and have different speakers.  The speaker at the meeting I attended was Colonel Pamela Stevenson – U.S. Airforce (retired). Her topic was the “The Power of me – Personal Leadership that Makes the Difference”

She highlighted the issues she faced as one of the rare woman in the Airforce (it was man’s world then and she felt it still is but we can change that as woman). She highlighted a Woman’s Power:

  • Power of me is a declaration of self
  • Build a team around you
  • Believe in you
  • Be bold leaders with confidences, courage, vested interest and tenacity
  • Don’t get in your own way with excuses and negative thoughts.

She then recommended woman use their power to move your city and community forward in some way such as: empower other woman, empower girls behind us, and end racism.  Pick a cause and move forward step by step.  I enjoyed this inspirational speaker.

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Kentucky International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR)

I attended a meeting recently of the Kentucky International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR). The topic was the State of Talent Management given by Jayne Hale Jarvis of Talent Bar Recruiting, LLC. She said the days of posting/advertising a job and praying are over. In today’s environment you need to sell your organizations.

This is happening by making sure your organization is on the various social media sites to generate interest in your organization, so when you advertise the position people know it is a great place to work. Human Resource personnel need to have a sales mentality about their organizations and positions. They need to make more than one touch with potential candidates to attract their attention. This means various social media sites and various professional sites via advertising and emails.

But the talent management doesn’t stop with advertising/recruiting. You need to make sure the candidate has a positive experience throughout the recruitment process and on-boarding process. In addition you need to continue a positive atmosphere for employees so they enjoy working for your organization until they retire. Happy employees are your best sells people to help with your talent management.  Ms. Jarvis then talked about Workforce planning & retention as part of talent management including:

  • Personal assessment to get people read for promotions
  • Engaging employees
  • Recognition programs for employees
  • Stay interviews to make sure your good employees don’t leave and you help them with their goals for their careers

As Ms. Jarvis mentioned recruitment and on-boarding are very important parts of the Talent Management and Workforce planning & retention systems.  Please click on my tips for recruitment and on-boarding as part of my blogs.

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What should you do if you Experience Sexual Harassment in your Work Place?

Sexual Harassment - What should you do when it happens to you?If you have experienced sexual harassment in your workplace that are similar to the examples in the news then you need to report it.

Hopefully your agency/organization has a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy that lets you know the proper person to approach to report your issue.  Policies should provide you with a number of options of supervisors, managers, directors or CEO’s.  Find the person you feel most comfortable with to discuss the issue. Management should have been trained to take these cases seriously (and now that everyone is talking about it in the news they should take it seriously).

An investigation should be done to give both the victim and accused the opportunity to be heard. Witnesses will also be questioned. If the investigation is determined in favor of the victim, the discipline or termination of the accuser will depend on the severity of the incident.  If the incident includes exposing oneself or constant touching of males or females then termination may be the answer.

In some cases, where the incident is limited to inappropriate comments, it is likely training will be recommended. This is the reason why training should be done and even small incidents should be reported so the environment does not become one of sexual tension in the workplace. Sexual Harassment Prevention Training will, hopefully, prevent small uncomfortable, inappropriate acts from occurring and escalating into hostile work environments where sex seems to become a job requisite.

If your agency/organization does not have a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy then you may need to approach an Attorney or contact State or Federal Equal Employment Opportunity type agencies.

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training as well as what should be included in policies and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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So, is Sexual Harassment Happening in Regular Business Offices?

Sexual Harassment - It's not just in the headlinesYes, we have heard about the cases in Hollywood, Military, Tech World, and Political Offices but it is also happening in regular business offices. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), “Sexual harassment is common in the startup community.” A NAWBO survey found that 78% of women founders surveyed said they had been or knew someone who had been harassed.

I have been teaching Sexual Harassment Prevention Training since 1995 and every time I complete a class, I learn about another case of sexual harassment. Here are just a few of the stories I have heard:

  • A young man joined a national recruitment firm. He shared a secretary with his boss. On his first week of work he had a big project that required getting a lot of documents together for a client presentation. He went to the Secretary (female) to ask for her assistance. She said she would help him only if he slept with her. He decided to do the work himself. His boss’s response was oh she is always like that!
  • Another woman told the story that her boss came on to her with flirting type of behavior. When it became more intense and she said no – he moved her out of the good job she had and moved her to another office which was like a demotion. That is called retaliation. She did hire an attorney and received a payment.
  • A young man started his first job after receiving his MBA. He was so excited about his degree and new job. On his first day he walked down the hall past a number of offices. Each of the woman he past held up a card with the number 7 to 9 rating his body. That is just as disrespectful as if it was done to a woman. Employees should be rated by their bosses only on their performance not their body parts.
  • There was a case where a CEO made crude remarks (sexual in nature or jokes) to an Administrative Assistant. She sued the agency and a Manager who witnessed these situations testified that he had heard the remarks by the CEO to the Administrative Assistant. Then the CEO terminated the Manager – the Manager sued and won for retaliation.
  • A Supervisor had sex with his Assistant and the next day that Assistant gets the plum assignment within a Team of 5 other people. Everyone on the Team knows about the Supervisor and Assistant hooking up and they are very uncomfortable working within this Team – This is called a hostile work environment.

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training, what policies should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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Kentucky Public Human Resources Association (KPHRS)

I joined KPHRS – Kentucky Public Human Resources Association and attended their fall conference recently. KPHRS is an association of HR professionals who work for City, County or Public Agencies. It is similar to the ConnPelra group in CT that represents the Municipal HR professionals. The Fall conference was held in Frankfort at the Kentucky Association of County Officials-KACO.

Topics covered at the fall conference included the State Pension Plan revisions that affect all municipal employees (there is one system in the State so if you move from one city to another you are still in the same pension plan). The Kentucky system includes State employees-KERS and the City/County Employees in the CERS. Unfortunately, the State has not been making their payments while the City and Counties have and the retirement system is underfunded similar to other States.

There was also a review of health benefits that was based on a survey conducted regarding usual changes in premium share and co-payments.

The last speaker, a municipal attorney, reviewed the State Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, and sexual harassment cases by vendors or customers. FOI rules in Kentucky allow Cities to charge commercial entities for copies and time spent gathering information. It also allows Cities to appeal if the request is too burdensome and only provide the information in the format they have and not put it into a requested format.

The State of Kentucky does not require by law that supervisors be trained in Sexual Harassment Prevention as is required in Connecticut. However, it is recommended that training be conducted and the policies must have a number of ways for employees to report problems. It also requires that employers make sure that employees are not being harassed by outside vendors or customers. For additional information about Sexual Harassment Prevention see my website at https://randifrank.com/category/hr-tips-techniques/sexual-harassment-prevention/

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Tips for New Leaders/New Executives Tip 8: Take Appropriate Management Classes

A promotion that changes your position from colleague to supervisor will change the working dynamic with your colleagues. Here are some tips to help you manage that transition successfully.

Take appropriate management classes to assist you with your training for the new responsibilities. You may not have extensive experience with some of your new responsibilities such as budget, human resources, supervision, finances, purchasing, or risk management, to name a few.

  1. Brush up on all the administrative functions is very important–especially if your previous position was very technical and did not include many administrative responsibilities.
  2. Remember what you liked about your good supervisors and try to incorporate their positive traits into your management style.

Learn from the mistakes of bad supervisors.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Sexual Harassment Issues Today

Why are women coming forward now, after so many years, to report Sexual Harassment?

The #MeToo movement has taken hold and people are finally talking, listening and taking action. The movement has given many people, women specifically, the courage to come forward.

We often hear the question, “why didn’t they come forward in the past?” Of course the answer is that  they were afraid of losing their job and being black-balled out of their career choice.

The examples in the news are mostly of high powered male bosses or stars that could have affected the careers of the women who had been working toward coveted positions for years. Imagine the frustration of having a plum role or high-level media position offered only to have it seem conditional on inappropriate sexual behaviour.

It’s not just women who are coming forward now with complaints of sexual harassment, there are men who have been harassed by stars too who did not come forward until the #MeToo movement because of concerns about their careers and income.

While most working women are not meeting with high-level media moguls, there are many women who are the sole income earner or part of a two-person income family that can not survive without her job. If the culture is such that the perpetrator is more likely to be believed than the victim, many victims feel they can’t risk their jobs by reporting incidents.

All you have to do is watch the Clarence Thomas hearings when Anita Hill came forward to claim Sexual Harassment.  She was on national television sharing her story in detail for the whole world and Clarence Thomas was still confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. Many people saw the embarrassment she went through and did not want to put themselves or their families through that ordeal.

Hopefully, the #MeToo movement will finally change the culture so victims will have more power and will not have to risk their livelihoods to protect themselves from unwanted sexual advances.

See tips on sexual harassment training for more information on this topic. The tips highlight training and what policies should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment-free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Two Quick Tips Taken From Recent Headlines:

  1. Inviting a woman to your home by herself is probably not an appropriate way to conduct professional meetings.
  2. Having a secret button to lock your office door behind someone from your desk is obviously not an appropriate way to conduct professional meetings.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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Getting to know local businesses and culture through LIBA

member of Louisville Independent Business AllianceLIBA – Louisville Independent Business Association is for small and medium companies that are not part of a national company.  For example, local banks can join but the national banks are not members.

As you would imagine there are a lot of entrepreneurs, retail stores, local restaurants, local artist and various service businesses.  They hold a buy local fair every year and have various meetings at some of their different businesses.

The first meeting I went to was a bourbon tasting which is very much a local business and highlight for tourist in Kentucky as well as Louisville.

Recently we had a tour of the economic development happening in the West End of the City (the poorer side of the city that is experiencing a renewal and boom of new businesses).

The last meeting I attended was a tour of Jeffersonville, IN presented by  the Southern Indiana and the economic development agency that’s called “SO IN” –  a great play on words. From Louisville, it’s just a short walk via a footbridge across the Ohio river to downtown Jeffersonville. The bridge has led to the growth of new stores, new restaurants and boutiques.  One of sweetest stops was the old candy shop where they still make candy by hand. Of course we enjoyed some tasty samples:)

It was great to meet so many new business owners and share the experience with my new Bookkeeper – Marla Blanchard of MJB’s Bookkeeping Solutions. http://mjbsbookkeeping.com/   She is a great help with my QuickBooks.

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Advice to women in business

During my networking at the NAWBO business fair I met Dr. Sharon Kerrick, Dean of the Business School at Bellarmine University.  She invited me to their free seminars for students and business owners.  I must say it is nice to attend a lecture and take notes and not be worried about a test.  (Been there, done that.)  It allows for great networking and learning what is new in the business world.

Susan Cameron – First Female CEO of Reynold Cooperation:  Advice to women in business

I attended one of these sessions when they introduced Susan Cameron the first Female CEO of Reynolds Cooperation. She provided an interesting history of how she moved up the ladder in a man’s world by starting in consumer marketing.  She then proceeded to illustrate her thoughts on Secrets to Success.  I have summarized them below:

  • Jump on a new opportunity – take a chance you can always go home
  • Love what you do and find the right cultural fit for you
  • You need to find mentors so you can learn from others – you can also learn what not to do from your tormentors or bad managers
  • It is all about your team – you can’t do it yourself – build a team to complement your strengths (know your strengths and weakness -Mend the Gap) – learn how to delegate
  • The team needs to be full inclusion of diversity
  • Must have the ability to prioritize and focus on the top 4 things
  • Have to operate in the Grey – not all black and white
  • Need to have the experience and calculate the risk and learn from your team then make the decision
  • Follow the Golden Rule
  • Business can’t stand still – change is hard but make it transparent to all

She also provided a perspective on Women Leaders and Men Leaders.  She felt Women are more culturally aware and value the employee relationships while men are better at conflict and getting the job done and moving on. Woman feel they have to be 150% ready to accept the promotion and while Men are comfortable accepting if they’re 70% ready. Woman have to learn let go and just go for it.  Great advice.

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Louisville Chapter of SHRM – Society of Human Resource Managers

Dealing with Mental Illness in the Workplace

I have joined the Louisville Chapter of SHRM – Society of Human Resource Managers. I attended one of their monthly meetings recently with the Topic of Dealing with Mental Illness and the ADA-Americans with Disabilities Act.

I have had a lot of training on making accommodations for those with disabilities but not when it comes to Mental Illness. The speaker, Kelley Gannon, COO of Centerstone Kentucky, indicated we really needed to understand mental illness before we can think about making accommodations.

Everyone has mental health and bad mental health days but Mental Illness is a Chronic disease, meaning it is ongoing.  Some examples include hallucinations, delusion, extreme sadness, ongoing anxiety, Bipolar disease, etc.

HR professionals are not required to diagnose employees but to be aware of the symptoms (different appearance, mood, etc.) and reach out to those who can help such as your counselors from EAP-Employee Assistance Programs.

Ms. Gannon suggested some of the following steps to address employees with mental illness:

  • Soft and slow voice – calm voice ( I can’t listen when you yell)
  • Make eye contact
  • Simple and short questions
  • Keep them focused on the issue
  • Be Transparent
  • Reflect by saying it seems like, so you think, sounds like, etc

Non- Helpful responses are:

  • “I know how you feel”
  • Don’t intrude into their personal space – in fact double the space
  • Don’t give flippant responses like “don’t worry”
  • Don’t disrespect them – give them respect
  • Don’t tell them their issue is not valid

She also indicated these employees can be needy and may want to talk to you often so you might need to set limits. For example, tell them “I only have 5 minutes to give you today” and ask them to address these three questions

  1. What is the purpose of your call – how can I help?
  2. What is the most important thing you need me to know right now?
  3. How can I help with that most important thing /concern right now?

Of course, every case of mental illness is different and each case may need different accommodations. So, seek expert advice on mental illness, employment attorney’s related to ADA regulations and places like Job Accommodation Network-JAN or Center of Accessible Living

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My day at the KY Chapter IPMA-HR Fall Development and Training Conference

I attended the KY Chapter of IPMA-HR (International Public Management Association for HR) Fall Development and Training Conference at Claudia Sanders Dinner House (Wife of Colonel Sanders from KFC).  In addition to awards programs, and state updates we had a number of speakers.

One session was called What Flavor of Ice Cream are You?  This was personality test which placed people as either Chocolate-Traditional, or Vanilla – Participative, or Strawberry – Individualist.  Most people were a combination which the speaker called Neapolitan World which is good since we need all kinds to get the work done.  See below for the strengths of each flavor

Chocolate-Traditionalist

Provide clarity of tasks
Organize efforts
Attention to details
Adhere to Standards
Appreciate Traditions
Remember Facts
Structure & Order
Provide Consistency

Vanilla – Participative

Care about People
Bring Harmony & Peace
Teach & Give Counsel
Give Encouragement
Instill Team Spirit
Persuade & Motivate
Are Sensitive to Others
Provide support

Strawberry – Individualists

Challenge the System
Find Flaws in procedures
Tackle problems with Zest
Provide Reform when needed
Generate New Ideas
Focus energy on present
Accentuate possibilities
Celebrate the Individual

 

The Second major speaker was Karim Ellis of Empowered Education.  His speech was called Game time – How to create Massive Success before you Roll the Dice!  He used board games from our childhood to demonstrate his points, it was very entertaining since members of the audience had opportunities to play the games as part of the illustrations.  He then summarized his thought into the following guidelines:

  • Know your gifts/talents – put the right plan in to place for those talents and plant that seed
  • What is the right environment for your gifts
  • Strategically Connect to People – 50% is what you know and 50% is who you know
  • Don’t wait get started now- Don’t let time run out- Take Action
  • Law of Attraction – think it – vision it – strategically focus on the vision – Check Mate

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My day at KLC-Kentucky League of Cities Conference

Learning about KY Employee handbooks, drones, opioid crisis while renewing acquaintances.

In addition to the opening speakers at the KLC-Kentucky League of Cities Conference, I attended a number of breakout sessions. The first one was on how to develop an employee handbook for municipalities/Cities (all municipalities in KY are call cities no matter what size).

Most of the rules were the same except for the open carry laws in KY that allow employees to bring weapons to work or leave them in their personal car except on school property.

They did emphasise that during orientation, new employees should be trained about the employee handbooks which covers many of the City Policies.  For more information on onboarding and orientation see my blog at https://randifrank.com/category/hr-tips-techniques/tips-on-orientation-onboarding/ .

At the conference, I also learned about ordinances dealing with drones and new programs to address the opioid crisis. The City of Jefferesontown has a great process called Angel Program that allows people to come to the police for help and not be arrested if they follow certain rules.  This is based on a program started in Gloucester, MA.

At the end of the evening the KCCMA (KY City Manager Association) members met for dinner and drinks at a local Brewery to mingle.  I was able to meet up with a colleague David Johnson, the new City Manager of Covington, KY. David and I met when he was a candidate for one of the Town Manager searches I did in the past.

He was so complimentary about my services and abilities when he was talking to the other KY City Managers.  It was unsolicited praise but very appreciated. He did not get the position I was working on at the time but he talked about how I kept him informed about all the processes of the search and shared so much about the positives and negatives of the position to make sure it was a good fit.

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Learning about Kentucky government

In my efforts to learn about KY government, I have joined the KCCMA – – Kentucky City & County Managers Association which are supported by a staff person from KLC – Kentucky League of Cities. Since KY is so large the KCCMA meets quarterly unlike CT City/Town Managers who meet monthly.

The group holds an annual conference in February and attends the KLC Annual Conference in October and has 2 regional meetings.  I attended last February and learned about KY Legislative issues and attended a regional meeting in Shelbyville where the City Manager talked about the use of the hotel tax for tourism and economic development.

I also attended the KLC Conference on October 4th.   The morning started out with an address of a fellow Truman Scholar – Ryan Quarles, KY Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture. He is the youngest commissioner in Kentucky’s history, but what else is new for Truman Scholars. [ For more information about the Truman Scholarship (scholarship for Juniors in college going into public service) see website https://www.truman.gov ].

He spoke about a new program where farmers send their products not good enough for the grocery stores like too large cucumber or a bruised tomato to the various food banks in KY.  The opening session was given by Jason Roberts, Founder of Better Block Foundation which promotes community driven temporary takeovers of blighted blocks in neighborhoods to start the urban renewal quickly.

Member – Louisville Independent Business Alliance

member of Louisville Independent Business Alliance

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