How to Check References and a Reference Checking Format

How to Check References and a Reference Checking FormatHow to Check References and a Reference Checking FormatChecking job or employment references is time-consuming and frequently unsatisfactory, as many employers, despite legislation that provides protection for references, refuse to offer more than dates of employment, salary history, and job title. Secondly, if youre not careful, each reference check can turn into a friendly chat during which you dont obtain the information you need to make an objective decision about hiring your candidate. If you have the opportunity to reach your candidates manager, you are likely to get better information that highlights the candidates skills and contributions. Talking to Human Resources rarely yields the kind of information that you need to make a hiring decision. Many companies today, because of the fear of potential lawsuits, have adopted policies that state that HR must respond to all reference checks. These policies also forbid managers a nd employees from talking with a candidates hintergrund checker in a background check. Who Should Check References? Reference checking is often relegated to Human Resources in organizations. Thats not who should own reference checking. The manager of the lage should check the employment references. He or she has the fruchtwein to lose if the needed skills andcultural fitdont work out. The managers feel for the viability of the candidate is also key to the persons eventual success as an employee. The managers support of and belief in the candidates ability to successfully perform the job form the foundation for the persons eventual success in your organization. Sure, Human Resources can own the reference checking process,check references for entry-level jobs, andcheck the candidates list of prepped references. But for most jobs, the manager of the position is the best person to check the references of former and current employers. This is especially true for talking with past emp loyers and the candidates former bosses. The manager knows the technical qualifications a candidate must bring to a position. The manager knows the appropriate questions to ask the current and/or former employer about the candidates work. The manager can listen for statements that indicate cultural fit and that the strengths listed match the strengths you need. Before you turn your managers loose on reference checking, however, training in how to check references is required. Your managers will range from talented interviewers to tongue-tied professionals unable to ask the appropriate questions without your training, coaching, and mentoring. Since you never get a second chance, particularly with the candidates former manager, doing it right the first time is paramount. And, this training needs to include how to reach the manager, how to bypass the HR office, if possible, and how to help the reference open up and communicate to you about the potential employee Use a Standard Forma t to Check References As with most Human Resources processes, a standard reference checking format is useful. You can easily compare candidates and ensure you are asking the right questions to make an educated decision before offering the applicant a job with your company. Dont check references until you are ready to make an offer to a candidate. This saves staff time and demonstrates your respect for the candidate. After all, you dont know whether his current employer or her favorite professor even know that he or she is looking for a new position. (It ispreferable thatcandidates tell their employer, but realize this isnt always possible, or even desirable.) Here are the recommended format and sample questions that you can use to check references. Make sure that you verify that the candidates reference checking permission signature is on your employment application before starting the interview. If its not, ask the candidate to sign the application before you check references. Thi s is recommended as a precaution so employers are legally and ethically safe. Name Reference Name Company Name Company Address Company Phone Dates of Employment From To Starting Position Ending Position Starting Salary Ending Salary What does your company do? Please describe your reporting relationship with the candidate? If none, in what capacity did you observe the candidates work? Reason for Leaving Please describe the key responsibilities of the candidate in his/her most recent position. How many reporting staff did the candidate manage? Their roles? Tell me about the candidates most important contributions to the achievement of your organizations mission and goals. Describe the candidates relationships with his/her coworkers, reporting staff (if applicable), and supervisors. Talk about the attitude and outlook the candidate brought to the workplace. Describe the candidates productivity, commitment to quality and customer orientation. What are the candidates most significant str engths? What are the candidates most significant weaknesses? What is your overall assessment of the candidate? We are hiring this candidate to (job title or quick description). Would you recommend him/her for this position? Why or why not? Would you rehire this individual? Why or why not? Are there additional comments youd like to make? Is there a question that I should ask that I may have missed that will help us understand what this candidate potentially brings to our workplace? Is there anything else we should know to make a hiring decision about this employee? Thank you for your assistance in helping us make a hiring decision relative to this candidate.

How to avoid jealousy and envy from poisoning your life

How to avoid jealousy and envy from poisoning yur lifeHow to avoid jealousy and envy from poisoning yur lifeTo speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. - Will DurantMother, what is water? - asked the baby fishWater is what you swim in. Water is what youre mostly made of. Its everywhere around you. - the mother fish replied.But I cant see it. - said the baby.Lifes most precious things are like water - they surround us, yet we dont see them.Do you see what you have? Or simply pay attention to what other people have, achieve or the recognition they get? Thats how envy and jealousy get into your life - rather than appreciating the water around you they bring out the worst in you.Jealousy and envy are related though are not the same - they are two different types of poison.How envy and jealousy harm youJealousy is no mora than feeling alone against smiling enemies. - Elizabeth BowenEnvy and jealousy travel together but are different emotions - both are negative and can make you feel miserable and ruin your relationships.Envy is a two-person relationship I want what you have. Jealousy is a three-person triangle I want the recognition you have from others.When you wish you have your colleagues office, thats envy. When you feel threatened by how much your boss praises one of your colleagues work, thats jealousy.Envy is resentment toward other because of their possessions or success. You idealize when you are envious. You dont just want what they have you want their stature too.Jealousy is when a third person threatens a relationship - you are afraid to lose someone you love in the hands of other.Jealousy is an anticipatory emotion as Ralph Hupka said. Jealousy causes us to take precautionary measures. Should those fail and the partner has an affair, the new situation arouses anger, depression, and disappointment. the Professor of Psychology at California State University added.Jealousy and envy are natural instincts. However, you can manage how you react. Both emotions mask other feelings that can become lethal. They hide our insecurity, shame or need to possess - they feed our inner-critic making us feel worthless.Envy is a reaction to lacking something Jealousy is a reaction to the threat of losing something or someone.A painful ancient symptomBoth jealousy and envy originate from the primitive fight-or-flight response. When you feel under attack, your brain triggers a warning signal.Our tribal ancestors lived in fear of arousing the envy of the gods by their pride or good fortune. Heras envy for Aphrodite set off the Trojan War in Greek mythology.Jealousy and envy are still the cause of most current conflicts both in the professional and personal world.Envy drives to self-sabotage causing wars and others conflicts. It typically becomes a group phenomenon, and turns to hatred and assaults against others, as Frank J. Ninivaggi explains on Envy Theories.We have a false sense of justice - our system emphasizes the eq uality of all. Thats a curious paradox the sense that we deserve our fair share of things is at the root of envy.Life is not fair. There will always be people with mora talents, health, possessions or reputation than yourself. Entitlement doesnt help - thinking that you deserve better makes you focus on the outcome rather than on the effort.Jealousy originates from the prospect of failure envy from actual failure.To let go of these two negative emotions, we must thoroughly understand where those feelings come from. And stop seeing yourself as a failure.We create our own poisonEnvy is the religion of the mediocre. It comforts them, it soothes their worries, and finally, it rots their souls, allowing them to justify their meanness and their greed until they believe these to be virtues. - Carlos Ruiz ZafnBuddhism teaches us that whatever causes our suffering has its roots in the Three Poisons Ignorance, Hate, and Greed.Ignorance is the mother of all poisons. Its the belief that things are fixed and permanent. When we see that someone is doing better than us, rather than focus on how we can improve, we get stuck on the current status.Thats why comparisons are deceiving theres always people that are better and worse than us. When we compare, we see things as static. We look outside (what others have) rather than inside (what we can change).We create our own poison and then drink it.Ignorance is clinging to people, objects or emotions. We dont want things to change. Its the desire to protect our idealized status. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom - self-awareness can free yourself from poisonous emotions.Hate arises from ignorance. We believe the world revolves around us. We want to stand out from the universe instead of seeing our connectedness to everything and everyone else. Our society is a system - when we disconnect from it, we start seeing everyone as a competitor or an enemy. Envy and jealousy are just defense mechanisms.Greed is not just wanting more - its the fantasy that adding more stuff will provide personal gratification. Unfortunately, delusion creates a vicious cycle. Not only it frustrates us we crave for more. Greed is also based on your need to protect your status - you believe that objects define who you are.Attachment motivates envy and jealousy. You cling to things or relationships you dont have - you want to be in control to feel more important.Bertrand Russell said Beggars do not envy millionaires, though of course, they will envy other beggars who are more successful.We direct our envy at those whom we compare ourselves such as your co-workers, friends, relatives or neighbors.Social Media has not only expanded the beggars you compare to its an accelerant that turns envy into a wildfire. A picture-perfect society is doing us no good by encouraging envy and fruitless comparisons.So, how can you avoid this lethal poison?The antidote for envy and jealousyIf ignorance is the mother of all poisons, then wisdom is the universal antidote. Being wise is appreciating the water around you.Wisdom is listening to other points of view rather than discriminating to carefully examine facts even if they contradict our beliefs to be objective rather than biased, and to always be ready to change our beliefs when opposite facts are presented to us.Wisdom is to directly see and understand for yourself - to keep an open mind rather than being closed-minded.Certainty can cripple your wisdom, as I wrote here. Embracing a skeptical mindset will help you see life sharply. The path of just believing what you are told is easy. The path towards wisdom requires confidence, courage, adaptability, and patience.The antidote for greed is generosity the one for hate is loving kindness.Letting go of your possessions and relationships requires wisdom too. You realized you dont need to possess objects or people to be yourself. They can contribute to your joy, but your happiness does not depend on them.Non-attachment doesnt m ean not caring - it means recognizing there was never something to cling to in the first place. You stop looking at what others have. You free yourself from owning or being owned.How to overcome being poisonedDont envy what people have, emulate what they did to have it. - Tim Fargo1. Increase your self-awarenessTo know yourself is to accept yourself. Self-awareness requires observing and accepting who you are - not who you should or shouldnt be. Reflect without judging yourself. Learn to be gentle and forgiving with yourself - youll stop needing possessions or relationships to feel greater.Are you jealous? Are you always comparing yourself to others? Deep inside you might feel insecure, frightened, betrayed or threatened. Thats okay. Feedback will help you uncover blind spots so you can conquer them.To increase your self-awareness, you need to look outside, not just inside as I wrote here. People who score high in self-awareness know themselves well and understand how others see them too.2. Free yourself from poisonous comparisonsBecome your own standard. Learn to appreciate yourself for who you are, not for what you possess or your achievements. Success is personal - happiness is defining success on your own terms.Social pressure will only make you frustrated - it seeds envy for not having more or make you feel jealous if someone gets more recognition than you do. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Focus on your improvement, not others. Comparing to other people is a lose-lose situation.3. Prevent an outbreakNormal jealousy happens early in a relationship it can be improved by improving the self-esteem of affected partners. Honesty is critical to stop early symptoms before they produce a jealousy outbreak.Keeping and maintaining trust is not easy - dont confuse it with blind faith. Embrace trust as something fragile and imperfect, as I wrote here. Jealousy is about control trust is about confidence and freedom.You cannot avoid feeling jealous, but you can prevent it from getting worse and worse.4. Emulate rather than envyLooking at others for inspiration is not bad the harte nuss is trying to be like them. Medium Staff is full of articles on how Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, or Tony Robbins became successful and wealthy. That doesnt mean you must follow their paths or aim for the same goals.Reacting with emulation rather than envy is to open up to learn from others.Each life is unique. Those who compare themselves to famous entrepreneurs end doing nothing. Choose your destination and take the learning route, not the shortcut. Copycats are boring its better to be original as Leon Ho wrote here.5. Feel the pain firsthandEnvy and jealousy are not just lethal for yourself. They can also harm those around you. Sometimes you need to take a little bit of your own poison to realize that.Let others become your antidote.If you are the jealous one, ask your partner to overplay her/ his jealous part for one or two weeks. Feeling the pain fi rsthand will help you realize the side-effects of your own behaviors.If you suffer from envy, interact with people that have dramatically less or more than you have. Live one day with a total budget of two dollars. Volunteer one night to serve at a millionaires party. Compare both experiences to see what it says about you when you experience the extremes.- - - Lifes most precious things are like water - they are around you waiting for you to pay attention and appreciate what you have.Envy and jealousy are lethal poisons its up to you to avoid being stung.Increase Your Self AwarenessReceive my weekly Insights for ChangemakersSign Up NowDownload my free ebook Stretch Your MindThisarticlefirst appeared on Medium.

The best bosses see employees as humans

The best bosses see employees as humansThe best bosses see employees as humansFormer Apple and Google executive Kim Scott broke down the two essential discussions managers should have with their employees to better understand their goals ina recently-posted Business Insider video.As the author ofRadical Candor Be A Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, Scotts philosophy provides insight on how to strengthen your feedback skills as a manager - and some things we can all ask of our bosses.Learn about employees goals through their life stories and dreamsThe first conversation Scott suggests having is about employees lives and how they grew up, starting with kindergarten, but emphasizing pivots they made as a way to find out what drives them.Why hone in on the strategic changes your employees have made in life during this discussion?Scott explains in her own words So somebody was a cheerleader and then they became a swimmer because they really could see more results of time in the pool on the swimteam than they could as a cheerleader then you know this rolle is results oriented. You start to see whether its hard workor what not that really motivates the person but you get a much richer more textured view of the person if you understand these sort of abstractions in the context of their actual life story.But she also cautions managers not to be intrusive if employees would rather keep private how they grew up. Keep their emotions in mind.Next up? WhatScotts coined the dreams conversation, asking them about what their ideal situation would be, but not limiting them to only one. This way, managers can see things including where the employees skills currently stack up and who they need to know to move forward to those aspirations.Scott then adds specific ways managers can change employees jobs to help them work toward their dreams- even if their current position isnt closely related- including, putting them on various projects, giving them training or academic opportunities or connecting them with others.What Scotts radical candor concept meansA quadrant displayed in an explanatory video displays the ideasframework, and according to the labeled axes, it means toboth care personally and challenge directly. That means that nice bosses have to totenstill hold employees to high standards.Its a way of giving feedback to employees. As Scott urges in the video, say what you think.On the other end, there are the pitfalls that bosses can fall into. The other three parts of the quadrant are obnoxious aggression, or just being a total jerk manipulative insincerity, in which bosses pretend to care, and ruinous empathy, in which bosses care too much about employees, avoiding all kinds of conflict or challenge, and end up ineffective as a result.The website defines each one, saying that obnoxious aggression results when you challenge but dont care. Its praise that doesnt feel sincere or criticism that isnt delivered kindly.The manipulative insincerity portion is defined as when you neither care nor challenge. Its praise that is non-specific and insincere or criticism that is neither clear nor kind.Lastly, ruinous empathy results when you care but dont challenge. Its praise that isnt specific enough to help the person understand what was good or criticism that is sugarcoated and unclear.This is just part of the philosophy, but it illustrates what can happen when you dare to show employees you care, but stay honest and clear with them.As a manager, getting to know more about employees lives and dreams can help you better understand what they want to accomplish, and giving proper feedback can help both them and you in the long run.