I originally wrote this a few years ago, but never published it. It seems as timely today as then. It’s a reflection on the differing perspectives and roles of management, HR, and legal counsel as businesses focus more intently on “talent management.”

Introduction

Several recent trends are combining to create both greater legal risks and increased opportunities for employers seeking to improve their strategies for attracting, hiring, promoting, and retaining the best employees.

Businesses driven by an emerging consciousness of the need for overall talent management strategies are making changes in employment practices. Simultaneously, broad-based legal challenges to such practices are on the rise.

The holistic approach favored by wise talent management advocates suggests substantial talent management roles for legal counsel and human resources (“HR”), in addition to a larger role for upper management in what have traditionally been HR functions.

Yet upper management’s and legal counsel’s lack of appreciation for the HR knowledge base, negative stereotyping of HR, and HR outsourcing may all serve to limit involvement of HR. Legal counsel also may be given only a secondary role in planning and strategy, as talent management becomes seen as a central business function, and legal counsel a costly resource to be used only once trouble strikes.

“Talent Management” Comes to the Fore

Enlightened management increasingly recognizes the extent to which the value of a business derives from its people — its “human capital.” The Human Capital Institute states: “[C]orporate market value is increasingly defined as the sum of human intangibles — ranging from the public perception of a company’s intellectual capacity, to its perceived ability to create new solutions, enter new markets and respond to change.”

With this recognition of the role of human capital comes new management jargon — “talent management.” This term has been defined as “the strategic management of the flow of talent through an organization . . . to assure that the supply . . . is available to align the right people with the right jobs at the right time based on strategic business objectives.” This requires “a tight link between business objectives and organizational processes for selecting, developing, appraising and rewarding people.”

Who can best forge this necessary link, bringing these employment processes in line with business objectives and ensuring the needed supply and alignment of talent? Read the rest of this entry »

Since when is resume writing a high-society experience? It all depends on the beneficiary of the resume writing and on the resume writer.

Guest post by Paul Freiberger, President of Shimmering Resumes, a professional resume writing service.

Even Celebrities Need Strong Resumes

I recently offered to write a professional resume for Paris Hilton. The socialite’s grandfather had just decided to give 97% of his fortune to charity.The poor thing clearly needed help with resumes.

Pity for Paris, our high society debutante? Perhaps. But her situation illustrates an important point about professional resumes.

Paris Hilton has high aspirations, but her lifestyle and career planning actions don’t always seem to support her goals.

That’s nothing a little professional resume writing couldn’t cure. Surely she wouldn’t just look over my resume samples and compose her own all by herself. She needed a professional resume writer of her own.

This is what I said at the time:

Freiberger said he is not seeking Hilton’s endorsement for a line of resumes or CVs. Should she offer one, Freiberger has not decided what he would do.

“But if I can help Paris Hilton with career planning and get her a real job, that will be good for society. And for her,” Freiberger said.

The Case for Professional Assistance in Writing Resumes

Amazingly, some job applicants pay scant attention to their resumes and never consult a professional resume writing service. Perhaps they believe that employers will deduce their merits in the absence of evidence, or think the competition will be weak. Or perhaps they just dislike the effort of creating one.

Almost always, they haven’t thought the process out, for they are flying into heavy weather in a rickety biplane.

A professional resume is important even if you think you don’t need it and can get interviews through your connections. Certainly Paris Hilton has connections.

So why create a professional resume? You can’t be sure when you might require one, and you don’t want to toss it together overnight. A resume also helps you organize yourself and see the full picture of your accomplishments and abilities. Most people take these for granted and may not have them uppermost in their mind at an interview.

Resume Tips From a Pro

Think about the purpose of your resume

Your resume is a marketing device. It’s a biography, but a very special one: brief and almost all highlights.

Think of it as a persuasive argument. Your point is: I am the person you want to hire. I’ll give you the best payoff. The entire nature of the resume flows from that.

Tailor it to the audience

Don’t develop your professional resume and cover letter by simply adding new jobs and achievements on top of old, as trees add layers. Instead, shape the resume to the position you are applying for. Read the rest of this entry »

Score: employees 2, employers 2.

High Court rules:

Retirement Plan Did Not Discriminate on Age

First up: Kentucky Retirement Systems v. EEOC.

This case involved a state employee retirement plan that calculated disability benefits by adding to an employee’s actual years of service the years the disabled employee would have had to continue working to become eligible for normal retirement, adding no more than the number of years the employee had previously worked.

The employee at issue continued working after becoming eligible for retirement at age 55, and then became disabled and retired at age 61.

He claimed age discrimination on the basis that the plan did not count certain years he worked (those after age 55) solely because he became disabled after age 55. The EEOC sided with him. Read the rest of this entry »