As the founder and leader of the HireFri

As the founder and leader of the HireFriday’s #HFChat I want to thank you sincerely for your participation today-Keep helping others!

Join Me for #BrazenRecruiting’s #SocialRecruiting Bootcamp 11/15 2:30 ET http://ping.fm/wtgNG

HRevolution: Where Social Media, HR and Blogging Dance and Celebrate!

The energy was alive, pulsating, and electric. That’s what happens when 50 like-minded people gather to discuss HR and blogging. We discussed how we learn to use social media to disseminate a message, open the streams of communication, and transform the way we blog and thus communicate with our colleagues, employees and friends.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to interview the conference planners, presenters and a few of the guests. What I want to offer you is a flavor of the different perspectives of how our colleagues are using blogging and social media to meet their goals. I will be announcing future posts on twitter, but in the meantime, Trish McFarlane, Maren Hogan, Laurie Ruettimann have agreed to be interviewed for this blog. I hope to bring you many other viewpoints as well.

Friday, I arrived to find my room-mates Tammy Colson, and Jessica Miller-Merrill in the lobby. I was thrilled to finally put faces behind the names and the many tweets we’ve shared. The event was kicked off with a reception. The room was a-buzz with the enthusiasm of greeting and networking. People were so delighted to meet one another.

The day was broken down as follows: the opening session, “HR: Not Dead Yet,” was led by the lovely Trish McFarlane, and Ben Eubanks. It was tough to choose which breakout sessions to attend. I chose to attend, “Beginner Blogging” led by Paul Hebert of i2i. I hope to interview Paul to further describe what we learned in future posts.

We saw a wonderful video featuring Alicia Arenas of Sanera. Alicia advised us by offering to keep in mind as we learned and embraced our day:

1) Curiosity
2) Honesty
3) Commitment

Allow the spirit of curiosity to guide your open mind to be like a sponge and soak in new ideas. Be honest with yourself and other. She stressed the importance of commitment. I plan to deepen my relationships by engaging with fellow participants on a whole new level.
In the afternoon, I attended Steve Boese’s session “Web 2.0 for HR.” Steve and @HR_Minon broadcasted HR Happy Hour live during lunch. This was followed by “The Future of HR,” facilitated by Mark Stelzner, who wrapped up our day. My tweet from that session :

“Is this is a grassroots HR uprising, asks @stelzner DO NOTHING is not an option-moving fwd HR is changing. R We obsessed w/change I wonder?”
3:31 PM Nov 7th from UberTwitter

After the session we dined, and danced the night away. All was well until I decided I’d try karaoke for the first time. Big MISTAKE! I thought it would be fun to try Madonna’s “Vogue.” Here was @ewmonsters tweet which says it all:
ewmonster
” Omg. Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ tortured by @hrmargo with @blogging4jobs and @marenhogan as wing-women. Fun! #hrevolution http://pic.gd/3c963e”
about 18 hours ago from UberTwitter

Louisville is such a gracious, classy town. The city welcomed us with web postings, and Stephan Johnson, a reporter from the local Fox affiliate did a story about our “unconference,” that was discussed by their news anchors. Who knew what started one tweet from Trish McFarlane would blossom into an incredible meeting of the minds with thought leaders in our industry.

I cannot end this post without thanking the conference sponsors Monster,com @ewmonster, who is not only a great dancer, he’s one of the funniest men I’ve ever met. Monster treated us to wonderful gifts, and goodies. One of my favorite Eric quotes came out in this tweet:
“I must exclaim @ewmonster/s passion, and love for his work inspires me #hrevolution he recommends “buck up-get a spreadsheet.”
3:42 PM Nov 7th from UberTwitter

I loved meeting @LoisMelbourne, of Acquire, Inc. The tweetup was sponsored by Nobscot Corporation. I also met Crystal Peterson, unconference planner and sponsor from Doe Anderson. I also had the pleasure of meeting Lyn Hoyt of Fusion Frames who also a sponsor . While I did not meet Alicia Arenas from Sanera, I am grateful to her for making this a special experience for us all.

HRevolution-A Twitter Inspired Gathering!

HRevolution, it’s all you hear about on twitter among HR professionals these days, and there’s a reason for that.  It’s going to be the hottest social media HR blogging event ever.  Whether you’re a new blogger or an old pro-HRevolution gives us a voice, a chance to learn from one another, and a place to dance.  Yes, I said dance.  There’s this thing called the Red Shoe Project where people are photographed wearing red shoes-and they raise money to help non-profit organizations.   A lot of people will be wearing red shoes.   Let the party begin.  Yes, I love red shoes, and HR people who wear them.  How did HRevolution get started?

It began with Trish MacFarlane and her tweet like this:

“Think we should plan a #HR blogger conference. 1 day. Blog specific learning/sharing.” @beneubanks @theredrecruiter@stelzner @lruettimann5:32 PM Jun 29th from TweetDeck

And the rest was history.  Trish, Ben and Steve went to work.  They set up a wiki: http://hrevolution.wetpaint.com to assess the interests of potential attendees.  The planning committee was flooded with support.  Sponsors came forward asking how they could get involved,  HR people started asking questions, and suddenly what started as one little tweet turned into entire movement of passionate  human resource professionals who love to tweet, blog, write, and share information with one another.  I look forward to meeting colleagues from around the U.S.  It will also be interesting to learn how experienced bloggers and HR pros are using social media technology to move their departments forward.

This is my first HRevolution.  Anything with both HR and Revolution in the same title simply must be a good thing.

I’ll be mad tweeting from the event, so it is with carpel tunnel and sore thumbs I bid you goodnight.  The next blog post will be from Louisville.  Your twitterpal,

@HRMargo

To Blog or Not to Blog: HR is that the answer?

Ok, sorry for the Shakespearian play on words to grab your attention.  But now that I have it, I have a question for the experienced bloggers.  How important is blogging for HR Professionals?  Is it the new SHRM mini-magazine?   I’ll defer to China Gorman who can far better answer that question.

This humble, blog post is dedicated to generous people like you who like to help new bloggers succeed. I’ve been reading a lot of HR blogs. Some HR blogs are informative, and helpful.  Not all blogs make it to the “A” team.  What differentiates the good from the bad?

Being new to the media-blog-o-sphere (really, is there such a word?) I am interested in learning best demonstrated practices by experienced bloggers who’ve been doing it far longer than I have. 

 Cincinnati colleague, Jennifer McClure @cincyrecruiter, has quite a following.  She is an Executive Coach with Centennial.  My friend, @Karla_Porter and I have become fast friends thanks to twitter. Karla works for The Chamber of Commerce in PA.  She is a wonderful writer, and gets a kick out of helping folks like me.  Then there’s @Tlcolson, Tammy and I are going to be roommates at the up coming #HRevolution.  She’s fun and I like her. An entire blog post can be devoted to the HRevolution conference in Louisville.  Of course, I’ll be live tweeting from that event over the weekend.  Back to blogging, My point is this, Twitter and blogging has introduced me to HR professionals I would have never met other wise. 

For instance, @TrishMcFarlane and I became twitter friends.  She sent me a press release for HRevolution, I sent it to a few media contacts, and Stephan Johnson from the Fox affiliate in Louisville is doing a story this Saturday, November 7th.

Networking on twitter can make a huge difference.  I’ll give you another example.  Before I left HR to open a one stop shop for people like me who enjoy spending way to much money on their pets, my twitter name was @pawspagal.  @Cincyrecruiter had a really funny post about this fuzzy @animal guy.  Silly me, I thought he was a recruiter who also liked animals.  Not the case, but as it turns out, he is one of the preeminent authorities in the recruiting world.  @Animal devotes much of his helping people by making comments on their twitter profile.  Well, he made a funny quip about mine. “@pawspagal: wrong name-HR person?  HR/Training professional who used to own a pet boutique and spa, well yes. 

From that point on, @animal has continued to help me (G-d I’m sure he’s going to hate this) and countless others.   @Animal hates flattery and enthusiasm.  Which explains why I enjoy doting on him.  Then there’s @paris22.  He was one of the first people to reach out to me.  He started by telling me my profile link to my LinkedIn site wasn’t working.  Oy.  He’s continued to help me with sage business advice, and has even invited me to be a guest blogger on his site recruiterreqs.com  Paul’s an altruistic guy who isn’t in it for the money,  He hates the term head hunter, and he is my favorite “unrecruiter.”  With that said, he devotes countless hours to helping people in transition connect with employers and recruiters.  He’s all about making good things happen, not just making a quick buck.  It’s a karma thing.  It’s why I like him. Here’s the thing about being a new blogger that is so heartwarming: there are so many people willing to offer a helping hand and really want to see you succeed.  That often is NOT the spirit in the dog-eat-dog business world. Now, I have to mention a recruiter and cyclist (who’s in much better condition than I am).

@jlipschultz, Jeff Lipschultz is a masterful recruiter in the U.S.  He is another one of the good-guy recruiters who doesn’t mind helping out a candidate.  He once spent 30 minutes on the phone with me  helping me prepare for an interview.  No, it wasn’t his job order, he was just being a nice guy.  How many recruiters do you know that would spend billable time helping a gal like me? NOT MANY.

Last but not least, there’s Bill Boorman and Mervyn Dinnen.  These two are my jolly ole chaps from the UK.  If I lived in London, I’d add them to my coffee klatsch. Wait, they drink tea don’t they?  I jest, but Bill and Mervyn take a certain amount of time out of their day to help people.  Bill has a huge, and I do mean huge, following in the UK.   I’ve been on his show several times in the past two weeks, and I was amazed how my twitter follower count went up after each appearance.

I found my new Executive Job Coach through Paul Paris’s radio show.  We were both guests.  We hit it off right away.  Her name is Janice Worthington.  I look forward to meeting with her next week.  If it hadn’t been through microblogging and blogging, I would not have found any of these wonderful, kind and generous people.   The twitterverse and blog-o-sphere is filled with kind and generous souls that are willing to help new bloggers like us.  I was joking with Jeff Lipschultz today.  I said, “Mark my words, one day the newbies will take over the world.”  WORD!

When people ask me, whether to blog or not to blog, my answer is a resounding and emphatic yes.  Get on twitter, find the people who inspire you.  Read their blogs.  Find your voice and blog away.  It just might lead to your next job.

HR-Non Profit Organizations & Last Night’s Election Results

Normally, I shy away from politics on my blog.  My readers are HR enthusiasts. When it comes to ballot issues and funding for not for profit organizations, it becomes an HR issue, particularly when it has an impact on staffing budgets.  Stay tuned this evening where I will provide an indepth analysis of HR, the ballot issues (many of which passed) and how social media may have helped these organizations expand their follower base, acquire new donors and volunteers, and position themselves in the market.  Stay tuned twitter pals.

@HRMargo

www.linkedin.com/margorose

#OnRec09:Not just for recruiters!

This evening, I will be giving a full conference report on the important points made during this conference.  Was I there? No, and that is the irony–and–the beauty of cyberspace and twitter.  Twitter gave me the opportunity to attend this conference free of charge by following the live feed via twitter.com #onrec09.  If you are reading this Wednesday, November 4, it’s not too late to jump in and follow the fun.  This conference is jam packed with information from HR industry leaders, vendors, and thought leaders in our field.  Yesterday I tweeted to the #jobsearch groups to watch the stream because not only would it be an opportunity for profession development, but it might put them in front people who can hire them.  That’s all for now, but stay tuned.

@HRMargo, your twitter pal

 

HR Halloween: Is Your Department Scary?

Is your HR Department scary?  Do you wander down the hallway afraid of what you might find? Do you ever look into the offices of your colleagues, and think “happy halloween, this is really scary?” Do you wake up in the middle of the night worried about whether the workers in your company are going to go on strike?  Did you forget to fill out the paper work , and you missed a deadline? Is your company in compliance?  Are your employees harassing one another? 

These questions are scary.  The answers can be even scarier.  What’s scarier are blogs, and consultants that use these questions to strike fear into your hearts.  That is my pet peeve! Consultants who use FEAR AS A SALES TACTIC.  It’s manipulative.  It’s unkind.   That’s just an opinion  I know many of my colleagues won’t agree.

One of the questions I used to ask on sales calls was, “what’s keeping you up at night?” and “what’s the result of doing nothing?”  Certainly those are valid questions, particularly if you can then lead your potential client to a solution.  However, in my heart, I believe a good HR Consultant is one who provides a solution without manipulation tactics, or fear.  A good consultant is ethical, competent, and offers outstanding results. 

Halloween is fun.  But HR can be scary enough.  Let’s leave the scary sales tactics to the used car salespeople please.

Your recruiter is NOT working for you! You are your own Recruiter!

We get it recruiters, your job is not to find us a job.  Your job is to fill the position you are being paid to fill.  Last night there was a heated debate on twitter among recruiters about candidates, about clients and their priorities.  There were those saying, “we should spend more time with candidates.”  There were recruiters shouting, “we have to prioritize our time with those who pay our fees.”  It is sad that recruiters do not represent candidates in the US as they do in the UK. 

 NEWSFLASH: You are NOT the recruiters priority.  Never lose sight that recruiters follow the money, they are retained by the client, and their allegiance is to the client, not to you.  Therefore, it is important to reach out to jobsearch focus groups, your contacts on linkedin, twitter, professional associations, and people like us who are willing to help you for free, without strings, or fees.  

   I recommend only spending 1/4 of your job search reaching out to recruiters, and the rest of your time networking with people in your industry.  People in transition have to be realistic.  The recruiters job is not to help you find a job.  Their job is to help the employer find the perfect candidate to fill their position.  So long as you know that going in–you will not be disillusioned.  Let’s face it, you do not want to waste your time. Keep a recruiters role in perspective. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not coming down hard on recruiters.  They have to earn a living.  Finding candidates for employers is what they do.  I like my colleagues. I used to be a recruiter myself, so I feel their pain.  With that said, many of them will spend time with people in transition.  People like Paul Paris (Paris22) Bill Boorman (@BillBoorman) and Jeff Lipschultz  (jlipschultz),and last but not lead @animal.  These people are great resources (on twitter) for jobseekers.

If you can afford a job coach.  I recommend JanetWorthington.  I just hired Janet to assist me in my search. She volunteers on Paul Paris’s site and is willing to help people there too (free of charge).    Being in transition can be disheartening.  It can be a morale buster.  When you are feeling low, turn to someone in your support system who can lift you up!  

Today, on Paul Paris’s radio show Janet Worthington and her son Jeremy we  discussed job search strategies.  A job coach can be very helpful to you in your search.  Another simple measure is volunteering on an industry specific committee.  For instance, I am a new volunteer on http://recruiterreqsjobseekers.ning.com . This site is free for people in transition.  I volunteered to be a guest blogger and job coach.   Paul Paris is a contact I met on twitter.  There is nothing more gratifying than helping fellow job hunters, and it is good experience.  Furthermore, it gets me in front of recruiters who can help me with my search.

Social media is another excellent resource for networking.   I have been using twitter with great success to connect with people in my industry.  That’s how I met Paul Paris, Janice Worthington and Karla Porter, and others. I’ve joined professional committees, and learned about inexpensive conferences and meetings that will help expand my contact network and may lead to me to my next position.

Follow smart people in your industry. At the twitter search box input the name of your industry. See who pops up. Follow the leaders. Follow the people they follow. Read the #hash tags they note in their posts. Join in the discussion. Get involved. Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet. Start listening to the HR blog radio shows. @paul22 blog radio show is outstanding, as is @animal’s.   If you need  a word of encouragement, I’m in your corner.

Networking with people you already know can help you get face time with the hiring managers you want to reach.  I also recommend preparing a company list you can share with your friends and colleagues.  They might know someone in that company who can help you.  If you are not comfortable with narrowing your search by company, be sure to specify what industry and job you want.  Most people want to help you; however, they can’t help you without your guidance.  So, be clear about what you are looking for, so that people know exactly what you are looking for, and can be of maximum assistance to you in your search.

 My favorite saying is simply this: you are either networking or not working.  This holds true even after you secure a position.  The power brokers, and the thought leaders are the people who are well connected and have access to the best resources in their industry. 

  The current job market is beginning to turn around.   However, it is still up to you to be your own recruiter. 

 The bottom line is this: you have to be your own best advocate.  Learn all you can about the free resources available to you and USE THEM!   Looking for a job can be a drag, but looking for a job can also be fun and exhilarating.   Interviewing can be a process of discovery. You are a resource person, not a job beggar.   You are the brand.  Learn how to build your brand, and as author William Bridges says, “It’s you and company.” This is one of my favorite books for those in transition.

 Just give me a shout. @HRMargomargorose@rocketmail.com And I’m sincere when I say I really care!

H1N1 HR Directors and Recruiters Who Will You Recruit if 40% of The US Population is Decimated?

On Saturday, President Obama issued an H1N1 national emergency alert in his radio address.   As an HR professional, I braced myself.  Not only was I concerned for our nation.  I also wondered how my colleagues would address this in my industry.

This week the CDC released an experimental drug still in its preliminary stages, which according to infectious disease specialist, Dr. Alan Cohen is extremely rare.   This coupled with the antiviral medication Tamiflu will be used for treatment, but will there be enough?    The CDC estimated that 40% of the US population will contract H1N1.  The implications for how this will have an impact my colleagues in human resources boggles my mind.

Tonight I was watching a debate take place on twitter between recruiters who were locking horns about whether their allegiance should be with the client or with the candidate?    And, after attending Dr. Cohen’s lecture Monday, I thought if the CDC’s predictions are correct, and the swine flu hits as hard as they are predicting, recruiters and hr directors will be lucky if they will have a workforce sufficient to meet the demands of American companies.  What are HR Directors and Recruiters going to do when the flu season hits?

Dr. Cohen says that infectious disease specialists haven’t seen anything like this since the 1918 flu pandemic which killed an estimated 50 million people.  How did does something like the swine flu begin?

Here are the facts he shared.  H1N1 started in Mexico, by June 2009 the W.H.O. raised the pandemic alert to 6 indicating a widespread transmission to 2 continents. 

• July 27, 2009 134,500 cases confirmed
• Over 100 Countries – 2 Continents
• August  24, 2009 1 million cases reported in U.S.
• Severe infection takes place disproportionately in infants, teens and young adults- Gen Y is expected to be hit the hardest

Currently, the vaccine is in limited supply.  Who will get it first? Those who are in the highest risk categories.

• Pregnant Women
• People who live with or care for children 6 yr and under
• Healthcare & Emergency Service Workers in Direct Contact with the Infected
• Children 6 months to 4 years w/chronic medical conditions
• Children 5-18 w/chronic medical conditions

The Department of Labor issued a letter to employers in August that cited the CDC’s recommendations.  The letter states employees should stay home at least 24 hours after the fever–without penalty.  In addition they recommend instituting flexible workplace policies, including telework, flexible schedules for workers who need to stay home.  Due to the fact that medical resources will be overwhelmed, the D.O.L. also waives the requirements for Dr. notes. 

Knowing what I know about how things really work inside HR and in organizations, I scratched my head and wondered, really? Hmm, and yet if we are inundated with the labor shortage due to illness that CDC predicts, we have to be prepared.  So, now I want to hear from you.  What steps have your company taken to prepare for the onslaught of this flu season?