Sakin Blog

Most of the time, I spend reading through the news, articles and blogs in the web so as to get myself updated. Staying in underdeveloped county, I think this is the most effective way to get to know about the world and get updated.

Here, I am going to write about the Company named “Zappos” who pays their new employees to quit. Isn’t it sounds abnormal and different? Yeah, I was also surprised to read the article “Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit – An You Should Too” by Bill Taylor. In this article he focuses on one small practice that offers big lessons for leaders who are serious about changing the game in their field – and filling their organization with people who are just as committed as they are. Here goes the basic insight of the article.

Zappos hires new employees and then provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers. People get paid their full salary during this period. After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls “The Offer.” The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit!

Why? Because if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. It’s hard to describe the level of energy in the Zappos culture—which means, by definition, it’s not for everybody. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick—and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-center employees take the money and run.)

Indeed, CEO Tony Hsieh and his colleagues keep raising the size of the quit-now bonus. It started at $100, went to $500, and may well go higher than $1,000 as the company gets bigger (and it becomes even more difficult to maintain the all-important culture and obsession with customers.)

It’s a small practice with big implications: Companies don’t engage emotionally with their customers—people do. If you want to create a memorable company, you have to fill your company with memorable people. How are you making sure that you’re filling your organization with the right people? And how much are you willing to pay to find out?

With this Zappos has been able to create the following Core Values:
• Deliver WOW Through Service
• Embrace and Drive Change
• Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
• Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
• Pursue Growth and Learning
• Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
• Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
• Do More With Less
• Be Passionate and Determined
• Be Humble

(Source: Bill Taylor and Zappos)

Amazing right?

1. Say Thanks
2. Change Job Titles
3. Ask for Advice
4.Offer Written Notes
5.Homemade Cookies
6.Change Meeting Venues/times
7. Make a Card
8.Reward with Food
9.Create 110% Rewards
10.Casual Dress Day
11.Staff Newsletter
12.Letter of Recognition
13.Movies at Lunch
14.Service Pins
15.Praise Staff at Meetings
16.Athletic Facility Pass
17.Promote Staff from within
18.Highlight in Newsletter
20.Free Movie Passes
21.Day Off
22.Reward with a goodie Bag
23.Ask for Input
24.Open Door Policy
25.Solicit Staff Ideas
26.Free 15-minute Massage at Work
27.Use Staff Ideas
28.Training Retreat
29.Temporary Parking Space
30.Highlight in Brochure
31.Kudos Reward Program
32.Staff Volunteer Award
33.Party at Your House
34.Feature Staff in Training Videos
35.Monthly Potlucks
36.Staff Jackets/Shirts
37.Gold Stars
38.Pay staff more Money
39.Flexible Work Hours
40.Better Office
41.Special Coupons
42.Reward with a Book/Magazine
43.Conduct Rounds
44.Set & Publish Your Own Goals
45.Create Staff Committees
46.Award Named for Staff
47.Free Classes
48.Ask for Advice
49.Personal Room
50.Evaluate Staff
51.Give Credit
52.Job Swapping
53. Involve Staff
54. Customer Care Award
55. Create Misc. Contents
56. Rent a Billboard
57. Ugly Tie Contest
58. Note on Business Card
59. Jewelry
60. Exercise Time
61. Make a Sticker
62. Casino Party
63. Pay for Education
64. Employee Idea Award
65. Spirit of “XX’ Award
66. Let Staff Host a Meeting
67. Create Contests at Meetings
68. Hold Staff Outings
69. Create a “Top Banana” Award
70. Offer Public Praise
71. Create WOW Cards for staff
72. Ask for Input
73. Lunch with the Boss
74. Gift Certificates
75. Hall of Fame Photos
76. E-Mail a Thanks
77. Have Staff thank other Staff
78. Thank you on Post-Its
79. Cook Breakfast for Staff
80. Hold Regular Meetings
81. Shorten Meetings
82. Staff of the Month Award
83. Other staff award program
84. Years of Service Award
85. Five Year, $500 Bonus Award
86. Keep Staff Informed
87. Say Hi!
88. Evaluate Staff
89. Ask Staff to evaluate the Organisation
90. Answer Phone for Staff
91. Birthday Cards
92. Attend Conferences
93. Staff Events
94. Gift Pen / Pencil Set
95. Buy a Soda
96. Offer a Hot Air Balloon Ride
97. Host a cookout
98. Facilitate Plaque
99. Tickets to Events
100. Community Meetings
101. Discounts for Staff

Enjoy
- Sakin

Facebook is, per their website, “a social utility that connects you with the people around you”. On this site, you can set-up personal profile of yourself, connect with friends, colleagues, join groups and networks, read news, post photos, videos, webs, jobs and many more. Facebook is a social networking site, much like LinkedIn for example, but with a more open community for communicating, setting-up and customizing profiles and sharing of information. The site was originally built for college students to network and socialize with one another, but has since opened its doors to everyone else, and it has really taken off in popularity.

Recruiters, Hiring Mangers and Internet Sources can use Facebook as one of the good sources for finding potential job seekers and candidates. Using this you can also search passive job seeker and approach them to join your repudiated company. Here are a few ways to do this:

1) Use Facebook Friend Finder:
This features automatically scans your email and address books. This will list out your friends, colleagues and other people you know who have already joined Facebook and will provide the option to send invitation to connect them. From here you can see your mutual friends and also look into their other friends as well. You can see the names and minimal information for friends that are “not mutual”, but you do have ways to reach out to them and connect directly. In most cases, you can use Facebooks option to “poke” them, write on their “wall” in their profile, or see if they posted contact information on their page - such as a phone or email address.

2) Use search Options:
Facebook offers Basic search by keywords to advance search by tons of options, such as location, company, education, and title). The one drawback on Facebook is that it will only let you search your network (I’m from Pittsburgh, so my network is limited to Pittsburgh connections and anyone else I connected with). One way around this is to connect with others outside of your network, but are only limited to see those contacts in the other networks. Another option is to change what network you want to be designated on Facebook.

3) Posting Jobs to the Marketplace:
Posting are free on this site and go out to your network. There are lots of job categories listed.

4) Join Groups:
This is the best part in Facebook, where you are most likely going to find people and connect. You can join the group which you are interested in and then connect and discuss with the group members. There is a discussion board open for discussion.

There are plenty of other ways to use Facebook, such as asking questions to your network, participating in or sponsoring events and uploading tailored videos for others to see. You can customize your profile and advertise your interests in connecting and job openings that way as well.

Enjoying using Facebook
- Sakin

Passive Job Seekers:
Passive Job Seekers are those who are satisfied with their current designation in their present organization. They are high flying executives formulating successful strategies for the companies. Most importantly, they are highly engaged motivated and not seeking a change. They don’t even update their resume. These employees are self motivated and are too satisfied or too successful to even consider shift. These are the decent percentage of the best talent in the industry. These people have the characteristics of the Theory Y people (Douglas Mcgregor: Theory X and Theory Y) .

Passive job seekers are people between mid to senior levels, with a higher level of expertise in their field. Many companies look out for these well-experienced people for managerial and other leadership positions. The track record of passive job seekers in their respective functions is extremely good and by virtue of their stable tenures with companies, they usually have experienced full-blown project or product life cycles. This loyal workforce works for the intrinsic satisfaction they derive from doing interesting work for a helpful employer. Industries that have high growth opportunities and high employee turnover are on a constant hunt for such experienced people.

Active Job Seekers:
Active Job seekers are those who are not satisfied with their current designation in their present organization or those who are in desperate search for the job in the market. Mostly they are an average or low performance staff. They demand lot of things and are mostly unhappy and de-motivated. These are the Theory X type of people (Douglas Mcgregor: Theory X and Theory Y) .

Now the question is:
Wouldn’t you rather consider spending more time and money hiring passive job seeker over an active job seeker?

The answer is mostly “yes”.
Bur recruiting passive candidates is a Herculean task. Though they are not actively looking out for a shift, they are averse to a change if opportunities do arise, provided the opportunity matches up to their standards. Is the position that you are offering as an employer desirable enough? Are you a strong enough employer brand to call and convince the candidate to shift? And are you ‘active’ enough to lure a ‘passive’ candidate? If the job seeker is passively looking for a job, the recruiter has to put in a lot of effort in order to garb his/her interest, persuade him/her for you and then, keep the candidate constantly engaged.

Reaching out Passive job seekers:
Reaching out to passive job seekers and convincing them to take up a job is not an easy task. As they are already in comfortable positions in their respective organizations, they are less likely to apply for jobs. So, they must be persuaded to move from their current employer to another. Gaining the confidence of passive job seekers is important.

Many organizations consider proactive networking as the best strategy to reach out to passive job seekers. Business seminars, networking forums, employee referrals etc. are preferred means of recruitment to rope in passive job seekers. But today many organizations rely on e-networking sites for recruitment. An employer can also ask his high performing employees to refer other high performing employees working elsewhere. The headhunter often has to play the role of a career guide or consultant to convince a passive job seeker.

Discussing and Convincing Passive Job Seekers:
The discussion with a passive job seeker regarding an opportunity must be one in a manner, which arouses interest. The initial talk has to be powerful with compelling statements about why the opening is a dream job and why the prospective organization is a dream employer as they have to believe they will get to do interesting work and interact with talented peers. The passive job seeker needs to be convinced that their work will be valued and also there are plenty of opportunities to grow.

Some of the things that passive job seeker will look for:
The employer brand, a challenging work profile, better perks and employee satisfaction are attractive baits for passive job seekers. They also seek better learning possibilities over financial benefits, especially in IT and other skill-oriented industries.

Market Trend:
The trend of recruiting passive candidates is slowly catching up. While hiring passive candidates may seem as an exciting proposition, it poses a major challenge. But if recruiters are willing to spend considerable amounts of time and money to lure passive candidates, the hunt is definitely worth it.

Thanks for reading.
Sakin Shrestha