This Week In Talent (8 Apr)

Note From The Editor

Happy easter to you all – however you celebrate the long weekend. Me, personally, I like to be a slob for 4 days. I eat until I burst every single day, roll around on the couch and watch copious amounts of Netflix. As I write this I’m lying horizontally on the couch – I can’t sit up straight right now cause I’m too bloated. A weekend done right, in my opinion.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is happening right now – yet another feather in Melbourne’s cap. I love comedy fest time! I managed to score tickets to a comedy fest pub crawl through Fitzroy on the weekend – so that was a fun way to spend the Easter Saturday afternoon. There’s plenty of time to get tix to some gigs happening right now, so make sure you check it out before it’s over!

I’ve also been thinking about the future a lot after my recent chats with Reanna Browne. My comfort zone is knowing that my future will always be better, easier, funner. When I think of my future I imagine a better version of myself … so you can imagine my shock and horror when Reanna kindly reminded me that the future isn’t real and may not happen because there isn’t one future – there are multiple infinite possible futures. The only thing that is real is right now – the present. I didn’t like hearing that. I’m a creature of habit, and I hate the unknown. BUT I guess I need to get comfortable with the unknown, and rest assured in the fact that I’m making positive changes and decisions right now that might put me on a trajectory for one of my many ideal possible futures. Have a read of this week’s article with Reanna, and she’s popped some audio in there for you too – can’t recommend it enough.

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How Proximity Bias Holds Employees and Workplaces Back

This is an older article that actually rings true today more than ever before. Proximity bias is starting to ramp up with employees starting to return to the office. It’s predicted that people who are in the office more will have unfair advantages over remote workers when it comes to promotions, salary increase and new opportunities. It will unfairly discriminate against working mums, people with disabilities and people based in remote locations that can’t get to the office as much as their childless, able bodied colleagues who live closer to the workplace. Some tips included on how to identify and tackle this rising trend.

Who Is Making Sure The A.I Machines Aren’t Racist?

A lot of us recruiters are relying more and more on A.I nowadays with the large volumes of candidates searching for work, coupled with our limited spare time available to screen all their CV’s. But who is making sure the the A.I technology we are using isn’t discriminatory? A large majority of the tech world, particularly at the C-Suite level – are white men. So it ‘s inevitable that machines that are learning off these white men will also pick up their biases. A thought provoking article that will have you second guessing your trust A.I resume screening tools. 

Visa Names A New ‘Chief of Diversity’ Officer And Elevates The Job To It’s Executive Committee

Well this is exciting. Rather than being a stand-alone middle management role within a large HR team where any policy changes or initiatives require C-Suite sign off and are impossible to get across the line – imagine having a Chief of Diversity as part of your C-Suite. The news of this happening at Visa makes me think that they take diversity and inclusion seriously. I wonder how long until this trend arrives in Australia?

It’s Not True That Managers Are The Biggest Drivers Of Employee Engagement

OMG did you know that human beings are individuals and have their own thoughts, feelings and drivers? So it’d makes sense that not all engagement strategies are going to appeal to everyone in a team/business. Managers can attempt to drive these engagement strategies, but without individual mindsets changing then you’re always going to have some people who aren’t onboard with your engagement dreams.

How To Create Better Job Titles

If you haven’t already … it’s time to retire the GuRu, NiNjA and SuPeRsTaR job titles. Read on for why.

The Power Of Napping

NAPS ARE IMPORTANT and they should be implemented into your employee wellbeing strategy immediately. This article has made me want to invest in an eye mask too – maybe that could also be part of your workplace “swag” – a branded eye mask to encourage naps and better productivity from your employees … just a thought.