y: Kandi Mensing

In my career as a recruiter and talent manager, I have fired a great deal of people. As someone who has never been fired from a job, I certainly do not understand why it is so hard for employees to remain willfully employed.  The even more amazing thing is that almost every single person I have fired did not see it coming. Forget about the verbal and written warnings, the suspension(s), and the countless coaching sessions and chances the employee was given. Even when the employee is explicitly and repeatedly told that further such infractions can and will lead up to further disciplinary action including and up to termination, they still appear to be surprised in the termination meeting.

What interests me even more is when an employee will start fighting to keep their job after being told that their employment status is terminated with the company. What employees being terminated really need to understand is that firing someone is not a decision that companies take lightly. Terminations can get ugly with retaliation and litigation. Terminations can be very costly to an organization, not to mention the time and effort spent to source and train their replacement. Employers do not want to fire employees. Firing employees also temporarily leaves seats vacant in the company and work potentially undone. Plus, a reputable company does not want to hurt any of their employees or leave them stranded, which is why the employee is given warnings and opportunities to turn it around. Employees are usually deserving of their termination because they have not responded to the employer’s suggestions of improvement. Really, it is that easy; if an employer tells you a way to improve work on improving it. Most of the terminations I have conducted have been straight-forward and the employees deserving yet no one ever thinks it’s coming.

It really is simple to avoid termination – do your job! When your company gives your feedback on your performance, take it to heart. If employees would listen to what they are being told and learn to take constructive criticism rather than getting defensive, they would have a much better shot at success within an organization. Too many people get defensive when their organization tells them that they could improve. There is nothing wrong with being told where and how you can or need to improve. What’s wrong with personal or professional improvement? There is something wrong with not responding to the feedback and requests and making the necessary changes or improvements. On the other hand, I do think organizations could do a better job of giving purely constructive criticism, training their first line supervisors to better coach, develop and retain their employees, and also providing the positive feedback on a consistent and fair basis.

Share your termination story!

Objectives on your resume can be detrimental to your job search. This objective can eliminate you from consideration immediately because the position may not be challenging and the company may not be growing.

In the largest verdict to an individual employment plaintiff in United States history, a California jury has awarded $167.7 million to a cardiac surgery physician assistant who suffered sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Of the total verdict, $125 million was for punitive damages. The jury reached the verdict on February 29, 2012.

Plaintiff Ani Chopourian worked for two years at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, Calif. She experienced harassment that included sexual advances, vulgarity, inappropriate touching and trash talk on a daily basis, said her attorney, Lawrance Bohm, a sole practitioner at the Bohm Law Group in Sacramento. Chopourian’s repeated complaints – which also included details about patient safety problems and meal and rest break violations – went ignored and she was terminated in 2008. “Being harassed in a normal work environment is bad enough, but being sexually harassed, demeaned, and belittled while people’s lives hang in the balance is truly unbelievable,” said Bohm. To make things worse, the hospital blackballed Chopourian after she filed suit, he said, and she has been unable to find work as a result. A call seeking comment from Julie Clark Martin of LaFollette Johnson in Sacramento, who represented the hospital, was not returned; the hospital also declined to respond to a request for comment on the case.

‘Nightmare’ work environment
 Chopourian, a Yale-educated physician assistant, worked in Mercy General’s cardiovascular operation department from 2006 to 2008. She assisted surgeons during open heart surgery in positioning the heart, harvesting veins or arteries and retracting the sternum, among other responsibilities. But from the beginning, Chopourian experienced a “nightmare” of a work environment, Bohm said. Both in and out of the operating room, she was subject to verbal and physical sexual harassment that went unchecked by hospital management, he said. Over a two-year period, Chopourian made a total of 18 written complaints, along with numerous other verbal reports. Her final complaint, delivered via certified mail, was stamped “received” on July 31, 2008. She was terminated on Aug. 7, 2008.

Under California law, any negative employment action is presumed retaliatory if it is made within 120 days of a complaint, Bohm noted. Chopourian was allegedly terminated for failing to show up for on-call rounds. But at trial, Bohm produced the original schedule for the week, which did not indicate that she was on call on the day in question. The defense submitted a photocopied version of the schedule that showed Chopourian was supposed to be on duty, but no one could verify when that version was created, Bohm said.

 The three week trial included a total of 25 witnesses for both sides. Chopourian testified about repeated crude sexual advances and obscene facial gestures, as well as a surgeon who complained about his lack of sex with his wife. Another surgeon spoke about his fondness for prostitutes while another made frequent, inappropriate references to women’s breasts. One doctor commonly even greeted others in the surgery suite by announcing, “I’m horny.”

Patient safety claims
But while the sexual harassment Chopourian experienced was severe, “this was also a huge safety whistleblower case,” Bohm said. “It’s not bad enough to come into work and get your butt slapped, get sexually propositioned and suffer rude and crude behavior, but surgeons were also endangering the lives of patients,” he charged. Chopourian reported instances of a surgeon unnecessary breaking patients’ ribs as well as being berated and ordered to stand in the corner for hours during surgery – a real danger to a patient on the table, Bohm said.

In addition, the plaintiff recounted for the jury a multitude of instances where she informed a doctor that she couldn’t harvest a particular patient’s veins because they were compromised or of poor quality, and the surgeon responded that she was a “stupid chick” and ordered her to take the vein, Bohm said. When it subsequently proved to be unusable, the surgeon would berate Chopourian for her incompetence and then instruct her to harvest in the other location she had suggested in the first place.

Bohm flew in two former Mercy General nurses – one currently living in Canada, the other in New Jersey – who testified in support of his client. The Canadian nurse told a story about how the same surgeon Chopourian said called her a “stupid chick” had hidden a sponge behind a patient’s heart during surgery.

She was on the verge of calling a radiologist to help find the sponge when the doctor pulled it out and threw it across the table at her, Bohm said. The defense argued that Chopourian was terminated because she was not a “team player,” citing failing to report for her on-call shift and napping in the break room. The defense also denied that any sexual harassment took place, citing its “zero tolerance” policy, Bohm said. But the hospital undermined its credibility, he said, by telling the jury at the beginning of the trial that they would not hear any salacious stories and that some surgeons would come to testify. Neither of these assertions turned out to be true.

Chopourian has had difficulty finding work because after she gave a deposition in her case and named names, Mercy General claimed that she had violated privacy laws by sharing information about patients and doctors, Bohm said. That allegation cost her the one job she has held since 2008, and since then, “she has not had even a job interview,” he said.

After deliberating for three and half days, the jury found for Chopourian on all seven of her legal theories: sexual harassment, Title VII retaliation, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, retaliation for reports regarding patient safety, intentional interference with economic advantage, defamation and violation of meal and rest break requirements. They awarded $39 million, with an additional $3.7 million in economic damages.

Bohm suggested a punitive award of $100 million to “have the hospital take notice.” But the jury went even further, awarding Chopourian $125 million in punitives. According to Bohm, one juror told him after the trial, “the pain of staying the same must be greater than the pain of change and then you will change.” He expects the trial court will consider reducing the compensatory verdict.

Plaintiff’s attorneys: Lawrance A. Bohm of the Bohm Law Group in Sacramento, Calif.; Erika M. Gaspar of the Law Office of Erika M. Gaspar in Sacramento. Calif.; Gregory R. Davenport of the Law Office of Gregory R. Davenport in Stockton, Calif.

Source: Harris, Dowell, Fisher, & Harris, L.C. – Management Labor and Employment Law Firm, St. Louis, MO

By: Kandi Mensing

{FORMATTING} A resume is a glimpse at your work history, an indicator of your grammar and punctuation skill set, and a look at your attention to detail. Resumes are intended to get applicants to the interviewing phase of the recruiting process. Many people compose 'paragraphical' resumes. If you learn one thing from this blog, please take this away: do not format your resume in paragraphs. {BULLET POINTS} Bullets are always the answer. In this economy, it is said that you have 15 seconds to catch a recruiter's attention. Look at your resume. Does it communicate the most important parts of your resume in that time? {BOLDING} Is the name of your company and years of experience in bold? If your answer to that question is 'yes', listen up! While your prior places of employment are relevant,  they are not near as important as the actual position you held with that organization. You should always bold your position/title, not the company or dates of service. Now, while we're talking about formatting, let's talk about those bullet points. First of all, each bullet point does not need to be a full sentence. Just make sure that within your bullet points for each position you include keywords that describe your work experience accurately. {KEYWORDS} Keep in mind that many application interfaces are able to identify applicants by keyword. Include keywords in your resume that you would use to search for candidates for employment such as yourself.{OBJECTIVE} I would argue that objectives actually hurt an applicants chances more than they help. Objectives are the first thing listed on a resume, the hardest part of a resume to author, and truly do not tell the recruiter much of anything because applicants purposefully compose them to be vague. All too often, I see the objective "To obtain a challenging position with a growing company." Well, the job may not be challenging and the company may not be growing.  With this objective and in this scenario, you have automatically eliminated yourself from being considered for employment on this basis alone.

{ATTENTION-GETTER} So, how do you catch a potential employer's attention with your resume? First of all, your name needs to be LARGE. This is YOUR resume we're talking about. You want your name to stand out and be remembered. {PERSONALIZE} Resumes are almost always black and white, text and paper. It is refreshing to see a little color, or a designed/personalized letterhead. Add some color to your resume. Don't be afraid to be yourself!  I repeat, it's YOUR resume; a representation of YOU. Make sure your resume reflects who you are and what the potential employer is getting if they hire you (within reason of course!). If a job doesn't want you for you, then you probably don't want that job. You want to be happy right?

{SO, HOW DO YOU GET TO THE INTERVIEW?}

1. Proper Grammar
2. Correct Punctuation
3. Consistency in formatting
4. Keywords
5. A concise resume that quickly outlines your experience and has the ability to catch the recruiters attention quickly
6. Professional and proper correspondence (more information to come in our future blog)

Resumes are complicated, yet integral pieces in your job search. We offer resume and image consulting for interview and job search preparation. Contact us for more details.

URBANA – A federal judge in Urbana has ordered the owner and manager of a restaurant business in Central Illinois to pay a total of $1,149,702.50 in back wages and damages to 64 workers employed as servers and kitchen staff. The judgment resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor following an investigation by its Wage and Hour Division that disclosed willful violations of the minimum wage, overtime pay and record-keeping provision of the FLSA at three locations.

Source: http://www.dol.gov

CHICAGO – In a lawsuit against a Chicago employer, the U.S. Department of Labor obtained a summary judgment in federal court requiring the company, the owners and officers pay 57 workers more than $200,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for violations of the overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The judgment also permanently enjoins the defendants from violating the FLSA in the future

Source: http://www.dol.gov

As the Human Resource Manager for a mid-sized manufacturing company, I was in charge of many important, mostly challenging, projects, and some were fun. Implementing this employee Veteran Wall honoring our employees who have or are serving in our Nation’s armed forces was indeed a fun project. It meant a lot to the employees and their families. It was also pretty interesting to see some of the employees’ old military photographs. Overall, it was a largely successful project and was fun to direct. I have always honored the military and the families that support them. I cannot even begin to imagine what they sacrifice on an ongoing basis. I applaud the military members who have and do risk their lives. I cherish my freedom. I am grateful that my husband, son, and I get to be with each other nearly every day. I thank each and every one of you for your service to our wonderful Nation and I honor your contributions in efforts to maintain our national security and American freedom! May you be showered with gratitude, hand shakes, and many thank you’s this Veteran’s Day, but not only this day, EVERYDAY! I think our Veteran’s Wall was a fantastic addition to the company’s lobby and was a joy to implement and inaugurate!

In 2011 alone, ICE conducted I-9 audits of almost 2,500  U.S. employers, criminally arrested 221 of them,  and ordered more than $10.5 million in fines.  (Source: ice.gov - Nov. 4, 2011 press release).  In order to increase the pressure on U.S. businesses  to ensure they are hiring only those legally eligible  to work in the U.S., ICE has stated that employers  of all sizes and in every industry will be targeted  by their inspectors, with stepped up resources  that will support more auditors and more prosecutions. 
By: Kandi Mensing

By: Kandi Mensing

YOU’RE UNEMPLOYED.
NOW WHAT?

It is time to hunt for a job; that’s what! Sure, you could live off of government money, i.e. unemployment compensations, but that is one of the worst things that a job seeker can do. In adverse economic climates hiring managers are understanding of job seekers who are unemployed due to a lay off or other form of reduction in workforce. However, that does not mean they are understanding of people who make a living on unemployment compensations. Despite a down economy,  hiring managers are having a difficult time filling their vacancies. That means that the right candidates simply are not applying for the right jobs. Do you find yourself applying for every job that seems to relatively fit the bill? FOCUS.  Hone your efforts in the areas of the job sector that are relevant to your educational and professional experience. Don’t apply for any and every job just because you think it increases your chances of finding work. It doesn’t. Companies do not want to hire a prior Executive Assistant to work as a Receptionist. Not only is their pay rate likely far above the budgeted rate for the receptionist position, but they will also be under-utilized and therefore more likely to jump ship when a better opportunity arises. Hiring managers would rather wait for the right person for the job than to place some warm body.

DO WHATEVER IT TAKES. I once lived in downtown Saint Louis, Missouri while job seeking. What I did was walk from building to building downtown attempting to get ‘face time’ with any and every hiring manager or human resource department that I could. I left copies of my resume with every stop. In the end, I landed a recruiting job because of my strategy. After I was hired, I was told that I really impressed them by just walking into their building and applying. It showed them that I wasn’t going to sit at home waiting for an emailed resume to get me at least a phone call. I was out actively looking for an opportunity. I wasn’t afraid of rejection or an honest day’s work. I was motivated and outgoing. In general, you just need to do whatever it takes. Follow up as necessary and track what jobs you’re applying for. All too often I call candidates to phone screen them and they have no clue that they even applied with me. It would really impress a hiring manager if you were able to show your high level of responsibility, accountability, and organization, by asking them to hold while you reference your application tracker. I always suggest a three-ring binder with divided sections that fit your needs. You can organize it by interest level, date applied, application level (applied,  received call, sent follow-up email, phone screened, interviewed, etc.), or any method you would prefer.

NETWORK. When you are unemployed, one of the most important things you can be doing is networking. The purpose is to keep your eyes and ears peeled for opportunities, but also to let everyone around you know that you are actively looking for work. Referral applicants always have a leg up on random applicants. There are many platforms used for networking this day in age. LinkedIn can be a powerful tool. I call LinkedIn the professional Facebook. Even if you are currently employed, you should be using LinkedIn. You can add all of your professional and personal contacts. This can be a powerful tool in reaching a substantial audience with your message. You can always network in person too. Anywhere you go you should be asking if they are hiring or at least inquiring as to how that facility or organization could use your talent or background. While unemployed, always, and I mean always have copies of your resume on you (even if they’re in your vehicle). Attend cheap or free local and/or professional events. Have personal business cards made perhaps with bullet points of your skills. Denote on the networking cards that you are currently looking for an opportunity. Volunteering is another highly effective method of networking, however it can also help to further build your resume and personal brand. Plus, it’s for a good cause and can also aid your well-being by providing you with a sense of purpose and contribution during your uneventful days of being unemployed.

FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. Apply in the manner the job requisition asks of applicants. If the ad says “Apply by visiting our website at…” then do just that. If the ad says “no phone calls please”, don’t bother the hiring manager by calling them to check on the status of your application. It will appear as if you don’t pay attention to detail and that you don’t follow instructions. With that, you don’t want to exclude yourself from any opportunities. If the ad says to apply by mailing your resume and you respond to the ad by email, your resume may not be considered for the job. If they ask you to reference a requisition number in your application; DO IT. Requisition numbers tie your application to a specific job vacancy within the organization. Without the requisition number referenced, you may get tossed into a ‘general resume’ folder and may not be considered for the opportunity that you were interested in. If they ask you to provide salary history and expectation; DO IT. I think you get my point. It’s pretty simple.

WALK IN SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES.  Think about what the process is for recruiting talent. A hiring manager may scan in your resume to their resume database which can detect key words in the particular documents scanned. In addition, they may search resume databases such as CareerBuilder. It is important to have key words on your resume so that you may be found in such searches. If you were a hiring manager, what key words would you use to search for applicants with your background? I always suggest that applicants have a “Skills” section in their resume. Below is an example of items you might include in a ‘Skills’ section of your resume so as to maximize your opportunity to appear in search results within said resume databases. I suggest formatting it into two to three columns within your resume rather than in one column as illustrated below.

Professional Skills:

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Windows
• QuickBooks
• PeopleSoft
• Citrix
• Typing: 80+ wpm
• Data Entry: 11,000 ksph
• Payroll & Scheduling
• Sales & Marketing
• Safety & Compliance
• Management
• Inventory Control

You also need to be mindful of what is going on in the hiring manager’s world. Too many people get discouraged if they have reached out to the hiring manager and don’t hear back from them. They are busy. They are recruiting for, most likely, more than just the position that you applied for. Don’t get discouraged. Be persistent, but mindful of their schedules and workload. You are unemployed with nothing to do but to wait for a return call on your application, they are not. They are employed with a burgeoning list of responsibilities as companies are doing more with less staff these days.
BE GRATEFUL. Thank the hiring managers for reviewing your resume. Thank them for their time on the phone or in the interview. You are grateful for their time and consideration, right? Humble yourself to thank them. They have very unappreciated jobs and it can go a long way in impressing the hiring manager.

BE PASSIONATE. Show passion for the job you’re applying for, the company you’re applying with, and for life, in general. Nobody wants to interview someone who is depressed and down on their luck. I once had a grown woman crying in the interview about being unemployed. I don’t know if she thought it would tug at my heart-strings or what, but quite frankly she made a fool of herself. You shouldn’t be that emotional over being out of work. I understand that it can be a tough time, but at least pull yourself together during the interviewing process.

BE CONSISTENT. Correct resume errors and inconsistencies. Make sure all relative resume parts are in corresponding font, text size, color, bold, italics, etc. Ensure all bullets and columns are aligned and the order in which you present your job data is consistent (job title, location, dates, etc.). Stay tuned for our upcoming blog on resume branding. 

BE CLEAN.  Do not ever give a resume that has been folded, is stained, or has a raunchy smell. If sending your resume by mail, spend the extra money in postage to send your resume in a full-size envelope. Don’t mail a resume with a coffee splash, shoe print, etc. Also, resumes hold smell. It is going to reflect negatively on you if a hiring opens your resume to the smell of cat urine (trust me, it happens!) or stale cigarette smoke. Even when just out applying for jobs, dress to impress. You never know what opportunities might present themselves and you need to be prepared. In addition, even the receptionists of companies make note of your appearance and will pass on to hiring managers. In general, just be a clean person!

Sure the job market is tough, but if you work on finding work, there are jobs to be had and there are ways to set yourself apart from other applicants. Ending on that note, happy hunting!

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