HR BEGINNER

Talking about learning in my life.

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:57:00 +0000

This time I would like you to go and check my guest post visiting Sukh Pabial's "Thinking about Learning". It is great to be part of his HR Blogs Carnival. Sukh is asking people to share their biggest learning in their life. Saying "I don't know" and learning how not to be afraid being wrong were my greatest lessons. You can find out how and why here.

I am sure you yourself have loads to share about your life lessons. Sukh or @Naturalgrump as known on twitter is looking for others to come forward and use his great blog to share their wisdom. Go on do it, it feels good....

Un-Grump your Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:58:00 +0000

This puzzles me a lot. Grumpy faces of most of the people you bump into on your mission browsing shopping malls looking for this perfect present. TV will on top of that present a program about grumpy Christmas. It was actually fun to watch and I can see where the frustration comes from yet at the end I say one thing. “Get a life”

Now I am not suggesting that people with too many bad memories and/or too much pain related to this time of the year should be seen as grumpy and wrong. All I want to say is that it seems that many others who have no reason whatsoever get this anti-Christmas face as a result of what appears to be fashionable response to Christmas.

Is that You?

Another common misinterpretation of the Christmas is that people tend to focus on that one day when all family is around and presents are opened. Well wrong again, Christmas starts long time before that and it should be never forgotten. How many of us know this strange feeling on the 25^th when no one seems to play their natural role.

Christmas is more than just stuffed turkey and well chosen gift. For me nothing beats the preparation time right from the moment when you start thinking about ideal gifts through the planning with your family menu for the day, having fun decorating your house, getting ginger late in the shopping mall and baking cookies together. It is indeed also about chasing your delivery services where no one seems to know where your parcel is, but all in the spirit of Christmas.

Christmas is seriously magical time when some extraordinary things happen with people. Stop for a second and look around when you are in the mall. Imagine that your attitude towards Christmas is soaked by these wonderful gifts you have bought. Now smell it. Is it nice? Think about that as your present will be unwrapped this is the odour your loved ones will get.

So, question to all of you today:

What kind of whiff would your presents give your loved ones when they open them?

Indeed if you get it right it’s another story ;-)

PS for Ladies: It is maybe me but it seems that women do go this extra mile a lot at the Christmas and if not noted by their close ones risk of frustration taking over is high. I truly admire you all, especially mothers juggling work and all the other stuff. Your effort is not forgotten and Christmas would never be the same without you. Also please let your men play over the Christmas with their gadgets.

PS for Gentlemen: My Zuzi knows that I appreciate all her efforts. Does yours? Also make her a breakfast in bed this Christmas, and if she says that you didn't have to do that, smile back but don't believe that she means it for a second. It is an old trap.

PS for Managers: Christmas party does not make you caring employer. What does we can discuss in a new year, for now I would say one thing. Go and ask your employees don't assume you know what they want and/or need.

My Favourite Things to Do this Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:53:00 +0000

This post is a lot about myself and won't necessarily enhance your day or Christmas. It's about me and me alone. So if you decide to carry on reading don't complain if you get bored. I have warned you.

My Favourite things to do this Christmas are:

1. Being grateful

- First of all for good health I and Zuzi enjoy.

- For over 16 years long relationship with person I can’t imagine live without.

- For my career taking a rollercoaster ride where my skills are being tested really thoroughly.

- For genuine help and support from some of my colleagues at work when my day wasn’t as I have planned.

- For my online friends who followed my tweets and my blog for a year now. They were a significant part of my personal revolution this year. (which is still on)

- For learning so much and feeling no pressure or pain while doing it.

2. Taking holiday for Christmas

As most of you know, this year I have started my new job. The job, which allows me to have proper Christmas. Just to give you some perspective here, I have been working in hospitality industry for over 17 years. I have spent my Christmas with my family maybe twice in that period of time. While I was very lucky on two occasions to be around the Christmas tree when the spirit was on the peak it is my first Christmas after many years when I am once again learning to enjoy every bit of it.

I am simultaneously writing post about what Christmas mean to me and will share it with you soon.

3. Food (Cooking and Eating it)

Those of you who know me well don’t need many comments here.

My pallet is one of my favourite sources of happiness.

Not only for Christmas Eve itself. (Christmas dinner in my house is 24^th following Slovakian tradition) but rather every single day of my holiday. I love Christmas for many things but creating and eating good food makes it really special. For having this opportunity to live life where I can afford most of the stuff available in the grocery shops really makes me feel blessed.

4. Catching up with blogs

Ever since I’ve started my new job in July this year my heart was crying for some quality time with my favourite bloggers. This Christmas I am hoping to catch up with some of them as this will really make me happy. Also my own blog needs some attention too, there is a lot to tell and I won’t have peace of mind until I share some of my stories from this year.

5. Reading

Got a Kindle for my Birthday last week. A keyboard version is great and if you ever doubt paying extra for free 3G, you must be mad.

Look Mum...No Hands :-)

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:05:00 +0000

I know I have promised you a story of a job hunter and I will get it done I promise. There is a lot to tell and share with you. I am having a great time right now and trying to reflect on my past while there is so much going on in the present could end up very contra-productive. So first thing first. I will tell you about how am I doing right now while the feelings are nice and fresh, and will catch up with the past later on.

OK By now you are probably wondering why did I choose "Look Mum ...No Hands...." as a name for this post. Those of you who follow my blog for some time, know that I've been going through some crazy years if it comes to my professional development. Those of you trying to convince me that "HRbeginner" is no longer name for me, this is not the post to prove you wrong, I will write one for you too, just another time.

I would like to shout "look mum.....no hands" but there is still too much of a wobbliness going on. One thing is for sure though. I don't remember when I have learned to ride my bicycle with no hands, but I remember that it was absolutely crucial for me to learn it as soon as possible. It was almost like riding bicycle itself was not important to me unless I could do it with style.

Now, of course I have fallen few times and of course I was embarrassed by it. It was there and then when I've learned how important it was to assess my abilities realistically but I've also learned that the risk of riding bicycle with "no hands" was to cool not to risk the fall. (especially when girls were watching....and yes I did fall while they were watching)

How much of a rational thinking does this include then. I knew I will most probably fall yet I did it anyway. Eventually I have learned to ride bicycle with no hands and it was pretty cool, but I could never thank for it to my rational reasoning or some freaking controlled environment.

Hence one thing is to learn to assess your ability but another is to be able not to care too much as there might just be a higher principle. :-)

Thanks for reading / listening....

From HR Toddler to Here and Now VI

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:37:00 +0000

First time I've met Etienne was at "TRULondon" unconference earlier this year. First thing I remember was his genuine interest to know me and how easy it was to become a friend with Etienne within minutes. After number of random chats (some more, some less related to HR) we have both connected via Twitter and I've been following him and his blog ever since. I am happy to say that his energy and genuine interest in people became on number of occasions for me very inspirational and for that I have included him in my HR Angels list. Etienne calls himself @happyemployee and for me, he is more than that. Any time I come across Etienne, I feel refreshed, and I really do mean it. Following Etienne on twitter you will always find something interesting to talk about and reading his blog www.etiennebesson.com will keep you thinking about some great HR trends which he presents in his “happy way”.

Anyway find out yourself about Etienne and his beginnings.

While studying psychology and being quite unhappy about it, I got a letter from a colleague. This was back in 1998 when email wasn’t yet what it is today... The letter said something like this:

HELP!

„I just joined a start-up and we’re recruiting like crazy. We’re a team of part-timers and we need help. Do you want to be the third member of the team?“ So we set a date for an interview, or so I thought. When I arrived, I was introduced to the HR team and shown my desk. Although my job wasn’t very glamorous, it took me less than three weeks to realize that HR was where I wanted to work. And I’m still not likely to change my mind anytime soon.

Learning How To Recruit

My first HR task was to open envelopes, extract the CV and cover letter and add the candidate’s contact information to an Excel file. Soon I was able to do additional things like screening CVs, calling candidates using a checklist, organizing interviews, taking references and writing job ads. And finally, I also got the chance to do job interviews. I must say, this was pretty awesome. And since our team hired up to 30 call center reps per month, I got a lot of practice.

Physics And The King Of The World

One thing I like to remember is how we tested for language skills. The interviews were held in Swiss-German and we tested English and French. To make it easier, I often asked about the last movie the candidate had seen. Back then the majority said: Titanic. Why they liked the movie? Because it’s so sad, and he dies in the end, and it’s so beautiful, and so sad. Boo hoo.There was one exception though. An engineering student was really impressed because he thought they got the physics right when the ship sank. Although I resisted for a very long time, I finally watched Titanic a couple of years later and was reminded of my candidate while the ship disappeared into the icy waters.

Highlights

There were lots of highlights, like co-leading the recruitment of Internet Supporters (these geeks were the best!), being in charge of recruiting call center reps in the french part of Switzerland and having my aunt call my mother because she saw my name in the newspaper (that’s how we published job ads back then...). But here’s my absolute best memory: One of the disadvantages of a purely recruitment job is that once you get to know the people a little bit and they accept the job offer, you have to hand them over to somebody else. But one day somebody came to me in the break room and said: “You’re the guy who hired me a couple of months ago. I love it here. Thank you.”

So What Did I Learn?

In the end I didn’t graduate, which is of course something I wouldn’t recommend (“do as I say” and all that stuff). On the other hand I got the chance to do a lot of basic and boring stuff allowing me to acquire very strong HR skills. I mean, lets not fool ourselves. If you want to work in HR, you will always have to deal with a lot of paperwork and other administrative things. It might become less the fancier your job title gets, but it will never disappear. And while recruiting, I also learnt a lot about processes, labor law, social security, data management and reporting.

Love Of HR vs The Dark Side

So in the end, why do I love HR so much? The main reason is because it’s the place within a company where the human element meets the business side. On the one hand you interview candidates or help sort out difficulties between managers and employees, on the other hand there’s a lot of facts and figures. I’m aware that there’s also a dark side to Human Resources. Of course, we’re the ones who make calculations that help the management decide how many people will get fired. And when it comes to this, we’re often seen as the ghouls responsible. And yes, first of all we’re paid to help make the business (financially) successful, not to be nice to people. But I also strongly believe that we’re in a unique position to help our co-workers as long as our hearts are in the right place and we truly want to make a difference.

So as long as I can do interesting stuff and look at myself in the mirror, I’ll definitely stay in HR!

After The Job Hunt Wave...

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 07:14:00 +0000

What a timing it was..... ONE DAY before my holiday I got a phone call confirming a job offer. Those of you following my tweets gathered the news via my #PetersCountdown where I have released 7 tweets slowly revealing this great news.

8 months (give or take) is a time I have been hunting my new HR job down. Long,......I know, but let’s just say that there was no family waiting for the piece of meat to be dragged home (as I had a job to pay the bills), and that my time spent hunting was one of the greatest lessons I have learned in my recent life. Anyway, there is much more to come from me on this one but for now, let me tell you this:

Job Hunt is Easy - if you do all the right things!

Doing all the right things - is Hard! (now read Bold only)

While I have great need to talk about my 8 months long job hunt journey, today I want to say something else. It is about coming home from long hunting trip. All gear have been hidden, and while plan for a new, different kind of journey slowly gets its shape, now is the time I am treating myself with some quality time with friends and family. It is about new beginning as well as about reflection where no conclusions are made in rushed manner. It is time I am letting once again my family taking care of me. Time I get fed with food and do things which relate to the period in my life when I was safe from many beasts of modern society. Time when everything was fun as there was no need for complicated agenda full of different categories, and the only higher principle was “Carpe Diem”. It is seriously mind blowing how much I’ve changed (as we all do) over the years and while I am intrigued by why and how this transition happened, I am secretly drafting a plan how to bring some of the "old Peter" back from the past.

Ok, now, before I go and start getting ready for my BBQ for group of friends, here is what you can expect from me next:

In my new series “Memoirs of the Job Hunter” I will share every important aspect of this experience. I will talk about my ups and downs, my naiveté and the moments when I have won the respect of other HR professionals. I will tell you what I think about different approaches to job hunting and why in my opinion took it so long.

I will talk about the time I had to fight hungry bear and time when I couldn’t resist the view of the lake in beautiful mountains and spent days enjoying myself rather than pursuing one and only reason I was out there: “hunting for the job”. I will tell you about my meeting with a wizard, who turned out to be a fake, but also about some hidden places where you can find friends who will give you all important stimuli for your important journey.

I will tell you about times I knew I can rely on what other people said and times when no one but me and my guts feelings were put in test while deciding which path to take. I will also tell you what everything I had to leave behind, once I have decided to go for the job hunt mission.

And as I am back blogging I have also new guest post ready for you, featuring Etienne Besson who will tell us in the series “From HR Toddler to Here and Now” about his beginnings.

See Ya...;-)

ConnectingHR Unconference and Me (2 of 2)

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Wed, 11 May 2011 11:43:00 +0000

Last week I have attended ConnectingHR unconference and while my previous post tried to disclose some practical view of that event, here I am about to share few ideas which have been resonating with me and all the others ever since we came back home. See Martin Couzins list of posts dedicated to chru and read other's reflections on this day full of fun and joy.

Best of Both #Connecting & #HR

ConnectingHR community is about both connecting and HR. Yes indeed it is a passion for HR which brought us all together at the first place, but reason for maintaining this connection is way beyond HR agenda.

I know a great place where you could feel it more than anywhere else...

“Believe it or not it’s chru.”


Snapshot of wonderful drawings produced on the day.

Questioning point of twitter, my friends and colleagues are asking me:
“… what is the point of talking so much non HR related staff with people you haven't even met yet?”
Well, I could say that it is part of the networking strategy where showing interest in common things such as football, cooking, movies or books, can help you to establish strong relationship with someone who could eventually become your HR buddy helping with all sorts of HR issues. I am sure I am not wrong, nevertheless this is not the primary reason why I connect with #connectingHR folks.

First of all we are not HR full-stop. We are PEOPLE who work in HR and/or love anything related to HR. We still have lives outside of work. Both our professional and private lives are complementing each other all the times.

…..leadership, mentoring, supporting, training, counselling, maintaining good relations, critical thinking and so on....., the ability to do it all can be easily spotted in tweets or blog posts where various people talk about anything they like or dislike, what makes them sad and what makes them giggle.

Why would anyone go through the stress of not telling it how it feels, and rather choose some carefully selected words ensuring strict relevance and professional jargon?

I feel sorry for anyone who has more than one “mode” switching between office and home. I understand that the professional and home environment can be very different, but I also believe that any organisation should try and copy the family model as much as they can in order to make most of their people by providing them with environment and atmosphere similar to one where they can be themselves.

Now here I’ll need your help, as it does feel as the ability to be able to switch between two modes has loads to do with our success, or shall I call it survival? It seems that the very same reasons behind our ability to survive are the reasons which destroy our identity.

Authenticity is blessing of any professional, and if there is something connectingHR believes in than it is this. We have never enough of it. Once we start to live our lives in harmony with our profession, we are more likely to support our workforce to achieve the same across the organisation.

This brings me to the WLB case...

Work Life Balance is totally underrated and misunderstood by both employers and employees alike, all because we only see it as a set of friendly policies and flexible working practices.

“I believe in WLB as a set of mind which every worker brings to their workplace. It is about how much of themselves they have to leave at home when they go to work.”

Going back to connectingHR unconference, it is this feeling of authenticity with no organisational hierarchy and power exercising interactions and no hidden agendas and nasty politics so often present at our offices, which made my day. No fear to say how you see it, with great anticipation for others to do the same enhancing your learning experience beyond unknown.

When I am connecting it is because I am looking for people to share my feelings with.
Our role of HR is linked to our persona and it is what things we like and how we feel about our contribution to the role, not the procedures and policies what makes us PEOPLE MANAGERS. As One of my HRangels Katherine Connolly wrote in HR Giving Back series

“Take things personally”

As we all connect talking about anything, there is an enormous sense of belonging created by our very own “who we are and what we believe in”.
The power of community has a lot to do with our deepest desire to belong to people where values, beliefs or even professional roles can be shared. It is our desire to be connected with others. We are social animals after all. What do you think?

ConnectingHR Unconference and Me (1 of 2)

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Mon, 09 May 2011 10:45:00 +0000

After writing my reflection on CHRU, I have realised that there is more than one message within the text, hence I’ve decided to split it in half. Today I am offering you rather pragmatic post about what I consider no.1 HR event in my Diary. In my 2nd part going online day or two later, I will share some random and key thoughts inspired by connectingHR community and its mission.


What a great place with plenty of day light.

ConnectingHR Unconference taking place in London last week was the second attempt of fast growing connectingHR community to meet, and scrap all established rules of networking while offering an amazing opportunity to learn and having loads of fun. Venue was like no other place you have ever attended for the purpose of learning and networking. Instead of neatly organised space of hotel conference centre, all happened in what appeared to be a gym where walls and roof had no other meaning than walls and roof do. The space has literally invited imagination of us all to focus on bringing little bit of ourselves in the room to feel the gaps. This natural need for making sense of the place left us to do the job and rather than being influenced by what existed already, this time we have all reached inside and using creative thinking came with some stunning ideas but mainly great atmosphere. As the day progressed, the gym got used to our mission of the day, and we all have participated in redecorating walls with our thoughts and paintings of artists who closely observed the "aura" of the room.

As far as unconference format goes, I have attended TruLondon this year organised by Bill Borman and can honestly say that the intensity of learning and sharing has been truly revolutionised.

My reasons why you will never miss the TruLondon

Everybody who knows something about learning methods knows that bringing fun into your learning experience is great way not to only enjoying your learning time but also have profound effect on how much more you are going to remember. Rather than bringing PowerPoint slides and using endless amount of flip-chart papers, track leaders (anybody could be one) blended in with rest of the attendees playing role of a topic guard. Starting up with few facts and feelings about some current issues was good enough for everybody else to start bringing their insights on the topic. Throughout the whole event we were all connected with simple but extremely durable string of passion for HR.

Why me?

Simple version: “Because it makes sense”

Peter likes to elaborate:
"Hmm.....where to start....Naaaah only kidding. Seriously there are many reasons why I want to be part of connectingHR community, But number one must be that it keeps me busy growing as HR professional as well as a person."

ConnectingHR is not another attempt to get people networking for purpose of helping to close new deals. ConnectingHR is an idea planted by few which became a phenomenon for many. ConnectingHR puts social case in perspective with business case and it is up to all of us to make sure that it stays that way.

Why You? ...will be there next time?

1. Inspired by Karen Wise: Because you are already jealous that you’ve missed it.
2. You love connecting
3. You love HR (you can see where it is going ;-)
4. You have heard of it so often lately that you feel like you are missing new HR trend called #connectingHR (there it is....I said it again)
5. You want to meet more people who are more interested in “Who you are” rather than “What do you do”

Some of the keywords for this great day out on which I will pick up in 2nd part of my reflection: Authenticity, Organic, Breathing HR, but also Work Life Balance....

Update: Since I have wrote this post, its 2nd chapter has been published and you can read it here: ConnectingHR Unconference and Me (2 of 2)

From HR Toddler to Here and Now V

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Our series continues. This time I am very pleased to introduce you to Alison Chisnell, an HR Director with an exceptional skill juggling her career in HR, being a Mum of twins and sharing it all via her blog "The HR Juggler". Alison’s blog became an exceptional source of inspiration for many professionals and you are more than welcome to find out more about secrets of juggling by clicking here. Alison is also an active member of connectingHR community and contributes to the HR sphere via twitter. You can follow Alison here.

Let’s enjoy HR beginnings of Alison Chisnell.

I never really knew what I wanted to do when I was growing up: careers advice at school tended to point me towards professions that used languages, because that was my most obvious academic strength; but I never fancied being a translator or interpreter. My parents were a teacher and police officer respectively and whilst I knew that I did not want to be either of those, I had little concept of the range of different types of roles and options that were available.

So, I remained open-minded, slightly concerned that I might be too academic for a “proper” job and went to university to study German and Theology, because I thought it would be interesting…which it was! And somewhere along the line of doing a few summer jobs, having a much more career focussed boyfriend who got me thinking about life after Uni and a knowledge that I liked and was good with people, I decided to give HR a go. Fortunately for me, I am the youngest of three children and was able to persuade my elder brother to facilitate a summer placement in HR at his company in my final year at University, which in turn led to a graduate job…phew!

I consider myself to be a lucky person, in my choice of career as in many other things. Looking back at my younger self now, I can also recognise that doing things that I am interested in intellectually and remaining open-minded about where things are leading are key elements of what have always motivated me, just as much then as now. I have never had a five year plan and when I sat down with my very senior, first ever boss, before starting my first HR job, I was mightily relieved when she said that she had never had one either and didn’t consider it a pre-requisite for working in HR.

There are two things that really strike me when I think back to the very early days of starting in my first HR job. Firstly, remembering how I felt when sitting down with my boss for the first time to set objectives. I had no idea how to achieve what was being described, felt that it was probably quite beyond my capability and experience, but I was willing to give it a go and was, in hindsight, quite fearless and undaunted in agreeing to whatever was asked of me. I recall quite clearly saying “OK, yes….I don’t know how to do that, but I’m happy to try” and feeling hugely excited, inspired and motivated by the challenge of finding my own way to do things in a supportive environment.

Secondly, I vividly recall the nature of some of the objectives, especially those around my personal development, which really set my expectations for what HR should be about. In my personal development plan, I was targeted on work shadowing a different one of the managers in my business for at least one day a month. This meant that I went out on the road with the engineers, visited the network management centre, attended team meetings, sat in on interviews, listened in to calls and from the very earliest point of my career, strived to understand the nature of the business that I was supporting. This desire has absolutely stayed with me and I always enjoy stretching my brain to understand exactly what makes the business people around me tick, what their priorities are and what decisions they have to make on a daily basis.

So, that is how my HR career began: an interest in people, an open mind, an attraction for things I find mentally stimulating, a willingness to have a go and a mandate to get involved in and try to better understand all the different parts of the business.

I’ve really enjoyed trawling through the memories and trying to make some sense of them in this context….thank you for letting me share, I hope I can play a part in inspiring you to do the same!

From HR Toddler to Here and Now IV

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:54:00 +0000

Following post comes from Christine Livingston, HR professional, coach and writer with seriously strong expertise in people development. Christine is supporting professionals on their way to realize their potential, challenging and inspiring them to achieve a different kind of work relationship. In Christine’s own words:

“I'm on a mission to help you create the kind of relationship with work that's life-giving and meaningful; rather than soul destroying and meaningless”

You can find out more about Christine and her contribution to HR world by looking at her website

Christine can be also followed on twitter @Coblyn

I am handing pen over to Christine now:

My excitement for my first grown up HR Manager role faded as I got to know my Business Partner.

There I was, all bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to prove to the world what a difference good HR could make. There he was – let’s call him Bob - all results and bottom-line driven, and not giving a toss about what I had to offer.

These were different times to now. The economy was mushrooming and the company I was working for along with it. We were recruiting like there was no tomorrow. And to Bob, HR meant one thing: bums on seats.

Which was too bad because I could see other things we ought to be paying as much attention to: low morale, high absence and turnover figures, to name just three.

He knew there was pressure in his system, he told me, but it was all caused by vacancies. And if I could just forget the fluff and hire people, all would be well.

This was so not what I’d expected of a generalist HR role.

I so wanted to go to my HR Director and tell her that she’d oversold me the job. On the other hand I was buggered if I was going to let Bob get the better of me.

So, I hung in and hatched a plan.

Delivering “bums on seats”

I don’t know where it came from, but I had the idea that instead of fighting him, I’d more than meet him. If Bob wanted recruitment, recruitment would be what he’d have. The kind that would knock his socks off.

So, I asked to meet with him, to go through in detail what he needed. I then asked for his feedback on how he found HR’s support for his recruitment efforts.

“It could be faster,” he said. “You guys take too long.

“Also, I get complaints from my people about interviewing people who are obviously unsuitable. That’s a waste of time. You could work harder to make sure unsuitable folks rarely reach us.”

He thought for a moment about what else to say. And then smiled as the ££ signs lit up in his eyes.

“And, of course, it could all cost me less.”

“How much less?” I asked. And he gave me a number. I thought that his ambition would cut the corner on quality and said so. But I committed to making sure the whole thing began to run more cost-effectively.

Getting smarter

Over the next few months, I coached my team on their interviewing skills and we got smarter about some of the tactics we were using in putting candidates forward to managers.

We also got more organised about which agencies we were using for what, struck preferred supplier deals, and got our advertising agency to negotiate harder with newspapers and magazines on the costs for advertising space.

And we got more joined up about how we were communicating our efforts back to the business. Even if sometimes they were reaping no reward. Over the course of about six months, we’d made big inroads into hiring better quality people, more quickly, and for less.

These things alone began to improve the quality of my connection with Bob.

Building trust

In tandem, I’d noticed too, early on that he liked data. Give him a spreadsheet, a sales forecast, or any form of analysis and he’d engage. Talk to him emotionally, and he was gone. So, I started to get very structured about how I gave him any updates.

In particular I had my team create the HR equivalent of the monthly report he had all his business managers do. In mine I put stuff like headcount, approved vacancies, new starters, leavers, recruitment costs, percentage turnover, and exit interview analysis. It may be that all this stuff is par for the course in your management team now, but it certainly wasn’t then.

I began to get invites to his management meetings. At first it was just to update on recruitment, but I made it my job to learn offline as much about Bob’s business as I could, so that I could take part in the general business discussions and not just wait till invited to say something about the current state of vacancies.

It was only when we’d met Bob’s recruitment needs and more, and he was ready to concede that things in his area were still feeling pressurised, that he began to invite a wider conversation. That’s when the monthly reporting, together with analysis my team had been doing from exit interviews, and all the informal feedback I and they had been picking up from the front line started to come into its own.

Leveraging trust

Bob gradually began to listen to me more about other things. I persuaded him, for example, to agree to pilot some development workshops with his managers and team leaders. In practice these were informal group coaching sessions in an off-site meeting room. But the results were good. Many of these people had been promoted long before they were ready, in the heat of a business boom. They lapped up what we had to offer them, saw their own morale boosted, and ploughed this back into their teams. The pilot got great feedback, and Bob was happy to commit a small budget to a wider roll out.

One of our biggest HR issues was reward and the final coup was persuading Bob to make a strategic investment in his payroll. I can still remember the day I sat with him and his senior people as we went through each person in his area with a fine tooth comb, deciding who would get what, and what message each person would be told as they were advised of their new salary.

Delivering change

In the end it took 18 months, but working together, we delivered some great results. Turnover came down from mid 20 percents to 5 percent per year. People were happier and less stressed. The business’s results were outstanding.

But I knew I’d really, really cracked it with him when he invited me to speak to all his managers at one of their sales conferences about strategic HR, and on introducing me said that he considered his area lucky indeed with its HR support.

Who was I really trying to convince?

I’d always thought that the villain in this story was Bob.

But writing this, at the same time as writing Hero Or Failure: You Decide on my own blog, has made me wonder who I was ever really trying to convince – him or me.

See, I’d been able to play around a bit in my more junior HR roles, but in my first position of significant responsibility, I was keen to prove that I was potent. To myself, as much as to anyone else.

And, there are some lessons I learned from the whole thing that have stayed with me till today.

First, meet a client where he or she is. Then show that you are value added by exceeding their expectation of you.
Second, talk your client’s language. Bob got numbers but turned off to zeal. Sometimes you have to channel your message in ways that allow it to be heard.
Third, be patient and wait.

I guess in summary that what I did was allow myself to learn from Bob.

And that last point is, for me, vital in any kind of work that involves working with people. We can think we’re very smart and know the answers. And, of course, we will always have something valuable to add to the equation.

But sometimes we need to get out of our own way, and listen to the person or people we’re working to allow them to teach us how to do that.

Pay enough attention, and they’ll show us the way to success that enables us all to win.

From HR Toddler to Here and Now III

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:25:00 +0000

Karen Wise is an HR professional with 12 years experience in the field on different levels including HR Director. As an HR consultant Karen offers a great portfolio of HR and OD solutions as well as expertise in Coaching Psychology. You can find out more about Karen here http://www.karenwise.co.uk/ or on her blog http://karenwise.wordpress.com/. Karen is also co-founder of Minerva's Mind: an organisation that supports women to become leaders in their own lives, by exploring what leadership means today in every area of life.

Karen regularly contributes to ConnectingHR community and can be followed on twitter as @karenwise.

I know Karen for some time now and should I describe her in fewer words than it would be "sharing and caring Karen" See below what she has to share with us this time:

I “fell” into the HR profession – it was pure accident.

My parents had arranged two weeks work experience when I was 16 at the large computer manufacturing plant where they worked. It was in the HR Department, and it was the most boring two weeks of my life (with the exception of meeting Martin Coogan of the Mock Turtles.)

After those two weeks I swore to myself that I would never get an office job “when I grew up”.

At 22 I returned from a year doing voluntary work in the barrios of Bogotá and moved to London. I was given accommodation at my uncle’s flat for 10 days and my parents gave me £1,000.

10 days later I had paid one month’s rent and undertaken a touch-typing course. I had also secured my first “temp” post….you guessed it….in a Personnel Department.

Those four months were a depressing start to my HR career. I was working in a cramped office with two ladies who really didn’t care too much about quality or best practice. I had little work to do except for sticking labels on letters, stuffing envelopes and photocopying. A lot of my time was spent hiding in the toilets.

Three months into the placement I was offered the position on a permanent basis. I had a better idea, I wanted to live in Spain teaching English.

I enrolled on a TEFL course, and was offered a job with Berlitz in Madrid. I was all ready to pack my bags and leave when an ex-boyfriend re-entered my life. I turned down the job & stayed in London.

In the New Year I was back at the Temping Agency. They offered me the choice of one of two positions: one of which was working in the recruitment team at the London School of Economics.

And that was the real start of my HR career. I had a fabulous manager / mentor who taught me about quality, managing relationships and what a great profession HR is. I loved that job and the LSE was a fun place to work.

A couple of years later (after a short dalliance in retail) I entered the NHS. A short summary of the next 10 years I have already written about in another blog post.

Like a Toddler, my first few steps into the HR profession were very wobbly. But once I found my feet, my passion was nurtured and I was able to grow.

I love the complexity of the profession particularly in the context of working in a challenging environment such as the NHS. I'm proud to be a "grown up" HR practitioner.

If you like reading about other HR professionals beginnings go to the "HR Giving Back" page where you can see the list of all contributors in this blog series. Do you feel you have something you could share with HR beginners? Same page will tell you how you can participate and "give something back".

From HR Toddler to Here and Now II

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:17:00 +0000

After Katherine Connolly kicked of our series of guest posts with her reflection on HR and how we should not be afraid taking things personally, Cyndy Trivella came in to say few words herself about her beginnings. Cyndy was a guest on my blog in the past writing about personal branding and her support for me as a HR blogger has always been of a great value to me.

Cyndy is the Director of Business Development in Kansas City for NAS Recruitment Communications, a Director on the Board for SHRM of Greater Kansas City and a committee member on the National HR Standards Workforce Planning Taskforce for the Society of Human Resource Management. Cyndy began her career in Human Resource Communications on Madison Avenue in New York City over 12 years ago. Prior to that, she worked in corporate human resources as a recruiter and as a training and development coordinator. Cyndy can be followed on twitter as @CyndyTrivella

Let's see what can we learn from Cyndy:

When I started my HR career there were few well-designed technologies in place to make any project or process an easy, time-saving endeavor. For example, though I am not a fan of the applicant tracking system, they do serve a purpose in that they enable the companies to database applicants, run reports and allow multiple users to access information that may not have been accessible unless faxed or emailed. Today, there are more technology options and sources to select from and many of them customizable to fit each company’s specific needs, and some more affordable than their predecessors.

Also thinking back to my early days in HR, there were very few options for reaching job candidates. There were basically four options: newspaper ads, employee referrals, job boards and external recruiters. Today these options still exist, and there are more to choose from than most people even realize, and many of these options are actually more monetarily attractive than the few from yester-year.

What all this tells me is that HR is assuming its rightful place in organizational importance by stressing the need for better options to manage one of the toughest roles within an organizations and one of the most important functions… management of talent assets.

Cyndy Trivella

From HR Toddler to Here and Now.

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:15:00 +0000

My first post in this series is written by Katherine Connolly. After I have approached Katherine about writing this guest post, it took her one day to get back to me with what I find as exceptionally good written post. This text shows little bit of Katherine’s sense of humour but mainly very positive attitude towards HR seen as more than just a job.

Katherine is a founder of the HR consultancy firm called “Keeping HR Simple” where name of her company reveals also her mission statement to help small businesses understand HR with no jargon involved. Katherine is also CIPD member and her personal views on HR can be seen on her blog here. You can also follow Katherine on twitter @HR_Katherine.

Now see what Katherine has to say:

Firstly, let me say that I’m not sure I’ve progressed much beyond the toddling stage. If we’re talking about the 7 Ages of HR, I’m definitely in the infant stage, although I like to think that I don’t do much “mewling and puking”!

I must say that I do like the analogy of being like a child when it comes to working in HR. Here are just some of the reasons:

I can honestly say that I learn something new every day even if sometimes I have to unlearn everything I thought I knew.

I try to be independent but often have to ask for help to do something.

I have learnt that there’s no shame in acknowledging that I don’t know how to do certain things.

Sometimes, I just want to sit down and have a little cry but I know that crying doesn’t solve anything!

For me, HR has always been a passion and I’m equally passionate about helping businesses to see beyond the legislation and to understand that when things are done properly, they can learn to engage with their employees for the benefit of the business.

If I had one tip for anyone starting out in HR it would be to take things personally. If your company or your client has to make redundancies, be upset about it. If there is very little communication between management and staff, do what you can to change the culture. If you can make it a better place to work, do it. After all, if you don’t care and you don’t take things personally, you’re in the wrong job.

Katherine Connolly

Are you HR professional thinking of giving something back and you don’t know where to start? Writing short story about your beginnings in HR can help a lot to other HR enthusiasts looking for inspiration, answers and strength. Email me at hrbeginner at gmail dot com or tweet me @HRbeginner. Eventually, if you are looking for becoming more active in helping other HR on their journey, I strongly suggest signing up at www.connectingHR.org. Among other exciting features you will also find a group set up for mentors. For those of you not knowing what connectingHR is, well there is nothing like this community out there being so vital and keen to engage in HR talks caring about each other and helping whenever possible.ConnectingHR website by itself is relatively new but don't get confused as the community exists for some time now on twitter and yammer.

While I myself have some journey on front of me before I start sharing my HR story, for now this blog is my way of “Giving Something Back”. What is Yours?

Mask is a Must. Or is it?

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Inspired by Emma’s @onatrainagain post “We wear the mask”. Thank you Emma.

As we grow up, we also learn that there is a good reason for changing our behaviour (mask) depending on situation we are in. I suppose, it is one of the talents of human race for which we can only be grateful for, as there is no way we will make it through without it. In the same body we are many different people with different missions to accomplish: to be a respected and inspirational leader at work, loving husband and dad at home, fun and supportive as a friend in the pub, or to be honest to ourselves…..

Masks - picture source

On one side it is quite obvious that the ability to switch between our masks makes us more or less skilled in what we do; successful; happy….?!? Nevertheless it is the same, switching between our masks what makes us exhausted, and making us to burn out.

How often we wish to bring our real "I" into conversation but being aware of potential damage we all back off (most of the time, anyway). Some might say that makes us civilised. Switching different modes throughout the day can also be seen as creative way of living our lives, where our personalities get a chance to exercise what they are best in. We all want a job which will be fun and fulfilling our expectations. While reality of our success is different we will always do our best to get closer and closer to our dream job (even if we don’t know what it is).

Taking emotional labour such as costumers' facing staff as an example, there is a monotone list of dos and donts no matter what organisation you are in. And just to make it worse, every employer will tell you to leave your private life at home (although few are starting to realise that actually caring about people makes sense in the long run and that “H” in “HR” means something too).

The point I am trying to make is that it is not the matter of our choice but rather survival technique which brings us to learn how to wear different masks in different situations. Going even more philosophical we could say that we are all trying to survive by wearing as many masks as necessary while praying for this being as few as possible.

So what is my ultimate goal? The ideal would be waking up as Peter, making business with others as Peter, meeting friends and family as Peter and most of all being appreciated by all for being no one else than Peter.

I know I should probably wake up now…right?

…..I am just saying.

I am asking then. Is Mask a Must? and How good are we actually in hiding our real "I"?

10 Reasons Why You Willl Never Miss the #TruLondon Unconference Ever Again.

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:46:00 +0000

1. You are involved either directly or indirectly in people resourcing and you do understand that social media is not only a trend which you can’t afford to ignore but also biggest database of many talented candidates who have exactly what it takes to fill your vacancy.

2. There is no way you can be closer to what is known as best of the best in the recruitment industry, and now I am talking people as well as instruments to make your profession ticking like no other.

3. While current trends are being thoroughly discussed, at #TruLondon New Trends are born. You don’t want to miss that, and you want to be part of it.

4. There is no way you will find another time and space filled with enthusiasts keen to share, learn and have a great time alongside of it.

5. You will meet and have chance to talk to, challenge and have a drink with some worldwide recognised analysts, leaders, entrepreneurs, recruitment and social media geeks and experts.

6. Innovation and creativity is valued largely as most current topics are being discussed.

7. You will see it all: what is shared perception throughout the industry and across the world, but also spot different opinions on issues which have always seemed to be obvious and beyond questioning.

8. At #truLondon you will understand why Social Media and HR are couple. And what a couple it is. They not only love each other, but also constantly complement each other and think of each other while making critical decisions.

9. Setup of the unconference allows its attendees to be creative and ask questions as well as offer opinion on any matter almost instantly without waiting for (as known at conferences) speaker to finish.

10. It is great fun to be there where you learn more as you play along.

Running Downhill

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:16:00 +0000

In my latest post “The Ugly Truth about “Having a Bad Day” I was suggesting that there is no problem of sharing your downs as long as you share it with right people. Today I would like to highlight one of the sources of a “bad day” talking about how trying to run too fast down the hill could lead to the awkward situation which you didn’t think of before.

It has all started couple of months a go, after a summer break which I have prescribed to myself, following my 5 years long study at University while working full time and more hours. I decided not to push any further development and having job which paid my bills I have once again tasted life with book on the bedside table or stargazing with my telescope during warm summer evenings (I guess I feel a bit cheesy now). Some other things I was pleased to do, was to catch up with all tasks which I had to postpone for last couple of years, such as sorting out my iTunes library, movie collection or pictures, and generally de-cluttering my living space. I was so excited about my new freedom that I have made number of camping trips that summer, quite a few of them being one night stay.

I have started to disrespect my home space, as the time spent there was always related to catching up with readings of textbooks or writing assignments with very little “finally at home” feelings. I had this feeling of compulsion and wanted to spend as much time away from home as possible. It took me a while to rebuild my relation with my house but it was incredibly rewarding letting it happen on its own with no agenda to reinforce it. And so, I woke up one day sometimes in November and felt that I was ready for my next steps in my life of HR professional. And as I always do, also this time I took it really “fast and curious” (although “fast and furious” might just describe it more accurately).

Twitter, Blogging, Linked In, Job-hunting- served all the time on the same plate and all while having a full time job already. "When Multitasking Kills" is another post I am working on, but just to give you some idea, imagine running down the hill so fast that you loose control of your legs and the only way to stop is to fall. One thing you learn is that you can not overtake yourself! Your body won’t let you! You have courage but there are forces out of your control which will almost certainly ask for paying back for your reckless behaviour.

You start to do mistakes more often than ever and have people around you looking at you suspiciously. Your closest will look for the ways to tell you about that you are loosing it, but other lot will just watch and forget the other you.

We do say that “first impression is important” but we should also learn to accept that the last impression is usually the one remembered.

I have done it before when I have decided that working and studying full time will be fun, knowing absolutely nothing about how much one man can take. While it was incredibly exciting journey, I remember that over 5 years I have been less and less enthusiastic about this way of life. I also remember when I’ve submitted my last paper and sat in the car park trying to find any signs of “hurray” state of mind. I couldn’t find it though as by then I was already badly damaged and it took me a while to recover and fully appreciate my achievements.

Now talking performance there is no need to go into details, but generally speaking you will never deliver the same with this sort of attitude.

Lessons for HRbees

Multitasking kills (now this one is to be discussed in later post but generally speaking there is growing evidence among various psychological studies that “Multitasking is not efficient, nor does it get more work done faster. Quite the opposite. One task interferes with another, so everything takes longer because the brain loses time--and accuracy--in repeatedly shifting its effort” (www.psychologytoday.com). There are many tools to help you with management of your time spent on different things throughout a day. Dividing your tasks into short, medium and long term categories is one of the basic ones.

One step at the time, it’s not a cliché but something what worked perfectly at the beginning of our life when we have learned to walk and talk. So once again don’t try to overtake yourself. There is nothing wrong to push a bit harder sometimes. Just watch it!

Eat, Drink, Sleep, are things you can’t fool........Seriously!

Don’t mind the endless list of tasks you have. Think about the one which you have just ticked off. Try not to be frustrated from not getting done enough.

You feel like there is a mess in your concept? See if there is a way you could make sense out of it and ask for help from others, but mainly try to relax, as some things are meant to be chaotic and they will also very often sort themselves out.

Now-here is the golden one I have learned myself.

Give yourself “me” time regularly. Not “me” who you want to be, but “me” who you are right now. We all seem to have tendency to act as someone who we want to be, forgetting how much disgusting it could be to our real “me”. Don’t take me wrong, changing some of your habits which you yourself are not proud of anymore is important, but take it easy!

Reflect. Nothing beats good self-reflection on what you do and what it does.

Finally, in the spirit of mindfulness, I found incredibly regenerating regularly turning off all the noises around me (could be your PC, TV, Ipod etc.). Cook something nice for yourself, sit down and enjoy every peace on your plate like there is nothing else on earth to think about. I am not an expert in easing my mind but if you want to know more check out http://www.mindfuljourney.co.uk/ blog from Alison Ashford where you might just find your new coping mechanism with everyday stress.

The Ugly Truth about “Having a Bad Day”

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:27:00 +0000

We all feel a bit down every now and then...right?

Bad day via www.stevenjones.blogspot.com

And then, we naturally seek something to fix that feeling.

We all seem to have our own way of dealing with it, but most of us find comforting sharing their feelings with others. Wife or husband, friends or work colleagues, your boss or your mates from social media sites. It seems to work most of the time and that is not because of what they have told you, but rather because they have listened. We are social animals after all and contact with others is incredibly beneficial especially in situation where you are a bit lost and want quickly find someone who knows how you feel.

And then there is the ugly truth about sharing your state of mind where nothing seems to be straight.

World is not always pink, and whoever pretends either in their life or on their blogs and websites that this is the case, is wrong and probably smokes something! It is like if you are asked on interview “What are your weaknesses?” and we all state silly things which we know for sure, that will be either funny or hard to believe, and that it will leave none if not positive impression on your interviewer.

So what exactly happens when you are talking about your real weaknesses? Well, while everybody says that it is perfectly human to have bad days and that everybody has one every now and then, they are not lying, yet what they don’t tell you is that your “bad day” has quite possibly marked you down. Consciously by some, subconsciously by others. In the worst scenario your confession will make someone eating you alive. And if I say someone I really mean us. The natural selection can be really seen everywhere, and getting a job in HR is not an exception. It is the reality of the world where information means power and you can only take care of yourself and your family if you are one step ahead of someone else. Depressing? Hell yeah! But at the end of the day it is all about how much you can take. Why? Well, yes you are only human and you can feel a bit down every now and then, but take it home with you and share it with your wife or friends. Take a big breath and remember that very few if anyone at all, is interested in your whining. Also remember the day you wake up and nothing is impossible for you because this is the day which counts, not the one where you feel drowning. All you need to do is to make sure that only you know about “bad days” and share with the rest of the world the good ones only. Do you need help? - Maybe, but to start with, you need to chill out and remember that “Nothing is eaten as hot as it is cooked”.

What would I do?

I would still share my weaknesses, as I believe that people should not be afraid of expressing themselves at the time when they have doubts, as that’s the time they need support but also a great source of feedback for their personal and professional development. The greatest truth I have learned about myself happened always when I was not afraid to admit what others kept for themselves. Nevertheless you also have to bear in mind the hidden consequences of sharing your Achilles' heel, therefore I would think twice about person I am sharing it with.

Final note

Sometimes I am getting feedbacks from my followers that I should avoid writing negatively on my blog especially if I am using it as a tool for my job hunt. Well truth is, that my blogging was always more about trying to share as much as possible with people at the beginning of their HR career and I think it is important for all HR beginners to know that having a bad day is normal, but learning how to deal with it in most appropriate way is a skill which we all have to learn. I have started to use my blog as a tool for presenting myself to potential employers, and then I have realized that this might affect the way I want to write about reality of HRbeginner’s life. I am willing to take the risk nonetheless, and go back to my initial mission of this blog. I am hoping to continue being inspirational for all HRbees who subscribed to my blog not only through showing off my strengths but also admitting my “bad days”. I also hope that to potential employers, my experience, skills and abilities as well as my love to this sector will always count more than occasional posts about ugly truth of “HRbeginner’s” life. I also realize that my writing can not always be a blog of choice and that I will have moments when I will appear to be less convincing, but I will tell you this: “I am the HR and a good one it is just my HR-world is not my oyster just yet”.

To all HR beginners.

I am not an expert on many things and should you have one of these “bad days” you will have to find your own way how to tackle it. Nevertheless should you ever feel like sharing (stranger to stranger way) I am here to listen to say the least. Email me at hrbeginner@gmail.com, DM me via twitter @hrbeginner or call me 00447849854295

To all

What are your bad days like? How do you cope with them?

The Brand Begins with You. By Cyndy Trivella

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:22:00 +0000

For some time I have been experiencing the euphoria of having and building my own brand online. I have learned from my own mistakes but also watching others trying to achieve the same. To this day I am still seeing my virtual life at the beginning of its existence while I am truly amazed by the speed of its evolution. Building up and maintaining your online presence is with no doubt an important element of your professional but also personal development, whether you are a graduate, studying, or just about to commence your journey as HR professional.
Following post written by Cynthia Trivella is targeted on graduates and talks about importance of keeping your online profile attractive and well presentable. Thank you Cyndy for sharing it with us.

“Reputations are created every day and every minute.” ~ Anonymous

So you’ve made the leap. You have finished your formal education and now the fun begins… you want to work doing something meaningful, make money, and make a way for yourself in the World. Congratulations and welcome to the next day of the rest of your life! It’s feels so different now.

I remember when I graduated from college. It felt to me, at least, like I was now worthy and every employer out there should know it. I had a head full of freshly ingrained knowledge and more ambition than ever before in my life. The good news was that my degree, by virtue of its general nature, opened up a variety of opportunities for me. The bad news was that because of its unspecific nature, it was difficult for employers to figure out just where I could provide value. So I began my hunt like many students while I was still in school. I was competing with people who had the same desire as I, to secure the position of my dreams and knock that employer’s socks off.

Well after 3 months of searching, I did find a job. It was actually a pretty good one. I always dabbled in work that focused on people, so securing a position as Training and Development Coordinator within Human Resources was a great opportunity as my first job out of school, and one that opened the door to some great future job opportunities. So as I reflect on where I was then and where I am today, it makes me think about the journey to get here. My life changed in more ways than I can imagine, but the one constant through it all is the person that I am. That persona evolved into what is known today as my personal brand.

With the advent of social media and social networks, the value of the personal brand has taken on greater meaning than ever before. It is absolutely transparent, easily known and just a click away on a computer, iPad, Blackberry, etc. Your personal brand is something that you will hone over your lifetime. It describes you, but it may not define you. The best way to look at you from the perspective of another person is to put yourself in another person’s shoes. Now think about this in terms of an employer. Imagine yourself as a seasoned recruiter in a Fortune 500 organization who is looking to fill an entry-level position in marketing. You know that you’re looking for a recent college grad who’s A-level, and willing to come in and learn the company’s business, grass roots style. As a job seeker, you see this position on the TweetMyJOBS channel on Twitter. It looks interesting so you apply. Then that sacred day arrives, the phone rings with an invitation to interview. You know your resume and cover letters are good representations of your brand, why else would you have gotten the call. But have you thought about the other pieces that comprise your image? Some of those pieces are found in your Facebook and MySpace accounts, your Twitter, Four Square and Gowalla updates, and on your LinkedIn profile -- and this is just a short list. So the big questions are what have you done to get these image pieces in place to support your resume and more importantly support you during the interview process?

I can tell you in fact that employers leave very little to uncertainty when it comes to talent acquisition. And I think more so today than ever before. With the lightening fast speed at which you can communicate with your peers, so can an employer locate these communications that expose you… for better or worse. Companies not only want to know you are capable of doing a job; they need to know you are the person you claim to be during the interview process. No one is perfect and from what I see, employers understand this. You, as the job seeker, just need to be astutely aware of what information is “out there” about you and be prepared to handle questions from a prospective employer. You will, like any company, deal with the effects of your brand and be called upon to explain and acknowledge its existence. With transparency being a keyword of the times, there is no hiding. What has happened, happened; it’s history, but know this, there are no excuses. You will be assessed on what you are, who you know, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, and for the purposes of starting your career, how you acknowledge how you want the prospective employer to view you. You have control over this. Your brand reputation is your own and something no one can take from you, nor can anyone alter this if you don’t want. But you’ve got to take responsibility and control. This doesn’t mean you can’t make a mistake or suffer a bump in the road; chances are you will. What is more important is how you manage a snafu and control the spin around it.

So what’s the point? Simply this, your brand will carry you through life – both personally and professionally. Treat it with kindness and nurture it. In return, you’ll receive a lifetime of benefits that will sustain you as the person you are and raise you as the person you want to be.

Cyndy is the Director of Business Development in Kansas City for NAS Recruitment Communications, a Director on the Board for SHRM of Greater Kansas City and a committee member on the National HR Standards Workforce Planning Taskforce for the Society of Human Resource Management. Cyndy began her career in Human Resource Communications on Madison Avenue in New York City over 12 years ago. Prior to that, she worked in corporate human resources as a recruiter and as a training and development coordinator.

HRbeginner looks back at 2010.

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:56:00 +0000

This morning I woke up with butchers preparing their meat for display looking at it longer than normally, cashier at Tesco’s replied to my “Good morning” with significant delay and guys in Costa made their first cappuccino today with heavy sigh. Life is definitely slower in the early mornings, but today was sooooo much lazier. My body is just as slow in the morning with my toothbrush feeling heavy enough to consider brushing the teeth the morning exercise. Yet with my first sip of coffee my mind takes off. It is this slow pace of almost everything and everyone that makes me to overtake most of them. Anyway snow is gone and so is the Christmas (don’t take me wrong I hope the Xmas spirit stays with you for as long as you wish).
Before I bow to year 2010 and welcome the 2011, little reflection will do me good and so will be sharing it with you.

2010 year HRbeginner was born and learned to walk. Year when HR beginner finished his 5 years long journey exploring academic depths of Human Resources Management. Year when the winter road conditions helped him to scrap his car and his car insurance became an official fund for next year. It was year he decided to treat himself and love of his life with holiday in Turkey with some bad luck of Goldtrail getting busted causing significant increase of the costs (That didn’t stop him from enjoying every moment of his holiday). Year when he decided to compensate the lack of HR interaction in his current profession using twitter, linkedin and blogging (as you can see) and so mix with the rest of the HR community. Year of some frustration but also satisfaction, little desperation but plenty more of the tranquillity, year when “change” was nothing to be scared of and year when looking up didn’t cause any pain in the neck.
So, Dear 2010, no regrets again, it worked out just fine, and You 2011 - Hold tight as I am about to take you for a craaaazy ride.
With love
Your HRbeginner

HR Tweeps I Learn to Walk from.

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:54:00 +0000

Inspired by TheHRD I have too decided to produce a list of people who whether they know it or not made my blogging baby days and life of HRbeginner smoother. Thanks to these guys I am learning how to walk in the world of HR, Blogging, Twitter and generally developing my new me.

First of all it is Lis Wilson from HRconnexions UK

giving me a good kick start in both blogging and job hunt. In my post Blog as a Job Hunt Tool I talk more about how my cooperation with Lis influenced my decision to make the blog, part of my “job hunt” strategy. Lis also seems to read my other posts and gives me feedbacks. Talking of feedbacks you should know that for blog toddler as I am there is never enough of praise if you only just learn to walk.

TheHRD

and his blog inspired by J.P. Sartre's existentialism using quote "Hell is other people" to express the views most of us keep in our heads. This guy pulls it with little worries about what other people think, thanks to his anonymity to which some people have objections. Message to those who do have a problem with Mr.Incognito's model: TheHRD plays an important role in our HR sphere expressing things most of us do not dare to voice. He needs to protect himself from the human nature which tends to implement numerous biases in interaction with other people without looking for deeper meaning. We too have to protect the anonymity of TheHRD and hope for more of his wisdom coming out.

MervynDinnen

for although I am sorry for him being in position of a jobseeker his courage to bring it up on his blog made me feel that I am not alone. Mervyn I know you very little (as everybody else's on this list) but from what other people say about you, you will get a job before the snow melts down.

Gareth Jones and Jon Ingham

for their work in HR SoMe interaction and for setting up http://connectinghr.org/. Also for organising ConnectingHR tweetup for which I am looking forward to.

Laurrie Ruettimann

and her blog PunckRockHR being first HR blog I came across with and have been big fun ever since.

HRConnector, hrmagazine, PersonnelToday, TribunalWatch, TheEconomist

for some great HR news tweets.

tedtalks

for getting some smart people talking about what really matters. "Ideas worth spreading"

Ben Eubanks

for he and his blog exists and gives me some idea what I would like to achieve with my blog.

MJCarty

for his kindness in each of his tweets. Michael is real gentleman and keeps HR online community warm and cuddly.

Darren Rowse

aka problogger for as he himself says: "I blog about twitter and tweet about blogging. Sometimes I blog about tweeting about blogging and tweet about blogging about twitter." Great inspiration from this guy.

Raina Kropp,

HR generalist from California for giving me very extensive feedback for my blog some time a go leading to some major changes. Thank you Raina and good luck with your study.

CBolam

who's tweets taught me that my tweets needs to be from this world. Caroline is a HR Academic from whom I learned that there is more than just HR to tweet about. (among other things, as I was proudly lectured by Caroline at University).

There are indeed more and more influencers coming into my network as well as loads more work needs to be done for me to be able to walk, talk, run and being listened to. My last words have to go to whole HR community living in shadow of a business case. We do make a difference in people’s life’s and any manager thinking otherwise is a twat.

For me to carry on growing I need you all around me.

Watch me and let me watch You.

Thank you and subscribe/follow/comment.

Happy Christmas to you all

Blog as a Job Hunt Tool

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 10:57:00 +0000

Recently I was approached by Lis Wilson from http://www.hrconnexions.co.uk/ an online recruitment company with rather innovative approach to what they know best. Apart of very flexible and tailored package for companies with various hiring needs whether "on demand" or "on going", hrconnexions also play a role in supporting job seekers. Among many useful advices there is also a blog where i was featured in an interview about blogging and its potential of it being a job hunting tool. In the post "Blogging your way to get a Job - An Interview" I have answered some questions about why did I set up my blog and what are my intentions with it. I have also reflected on my blogging experience so far and gave some humble advice for people looking to start their own blog. There are indeed many experts out there who can point out my strengths and weaknesses if it comes to my blogging skills (if you are one of them please comment) but I am not saying that I am an expert. This interview was truly helpful for me in the way I could reflect on my blog as a space which could attract potential recruiters looking for my kind. Hence for the time being you might will see more side bars and other content related to my persona with an effort to show off.

Dear Lis, Thank you for inspiring me to the idea of blogging and job hunting simultaneously. You play an important role in making online recruitment more than just someone's job and raising awareness as well as educating is without the doubt an important element of what "hrconnexions" team do.

Where HR Beginner Sticks his Nose.

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:31:00 +0000

Time to share some of my most frequently used tools used in my continual professional development.
There are many more sources I have tried and keep trying and so should you.

I will indeed elaborate on all of the sources below in later posts, but firstly let's put them into nice list.

RSS feeds

Generally speaking the most frequently used tool to keep me up to date with all News, Websites and Blog posts updates as well as all job vacancies out there coming from online recruiters. If you haven't tried it yet put it on top of your list to make your development more efficient. I use Google Reader.I will share all my sources of feeds sometimes soon in the post about RSS feeds. Stay tuned and subscribe to my blog if you want to safe time researching it yourself.

The Economist,

I use audio edition, in my car while driving. Every Friday new weekly updates on current issues around the world. Excellently written by some excellent journalists.

Forums

CIPD Communities, HR Space etc. Reading it gives me a good idea what are the most current concerns and problems of HR professionals. Participating in discussions I practice my HR terminus technicus while getting some feedbacks on my critical HR thinking. An excellent way of developing the writing and thinking as a HR professional.

Networking

Blogs, Twitter, Linkedin are the must to keep me in touch with most influential people out there. When I have started to use twitter I was amazed by the amount of people willing to help and cooperate.

Academic Journals

Excellent for research. While Wikipedia is great to get a quick look on something quote it very sparingly. Academic journals hold some empirically supported materials where there is less guessing and more facts available. Try your local University library. There are some online libraries offering great selection of HR journals but the subscriptions are very expensive.

Final word

Don’t punish yourself for not being able to stick your nose in all of them at once. Make your own routine and make sure you stick your nose in each of the sources every now and then (ideally once a week). This will keep you moving and growing as a HR professional.

When "Snowed in" is the best thing could happen to you.

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:17:00 +0000

How many of us think about snow and wish there is more of it? How many of us wake up in the morning and think just how much they could use the benefits of calling in "sorry can’t make it today, it’s out of my hands". My concern is that more than taking snow off the roads it is about taking care of people who feel like there is “snow inside them.” It is sad coincidence that "snowballing" is also used to express non stoppable power of building up problems making everything else look small and irrelevant. Hence sooner or later you can end up calling in “it’s out of my hands” but this time it will have nothing to do with snow on the roads. In this post I wish to share some examples of “snowed in” people as well as message to HR practitioners as well as any managers who make difference how people feel at work.

Unappreciated people.

You keep going the extra mile and all you get is a smile of your superior (if you are lucky). What is worse everybody else seems to go the extra mile too, hence you have no option but keep going and make sure you are on the lead. In addition as you go these extra mileS you have to carry loads of weight with you too. Badly executed and misunderstood concept of performance management + long hour working culture in Britain (longest in Europe) all lead to this snowball effect commonly known as Stress. Long term consequences on individuals and their lives are unquestionable; it is the nasty “everybody is replaceable” attitude of some organisations which worries me most.

Underdeveloped people.

You come to work and whatever you do the other people seems to be better in doing it. You want to improve but there is no guidance from superiors or no will from colleagues. Reasons behind underdeveloped workforce vary from one organisation to the other, but the bottom line is that none of them consider people as an asset worth developing. Days, weeks, months and years go by and you are where you were before. It is drowning and frustrating. You might not know it but you bring this frustration home with you and your day doesn’t get any better. You have a bit of “snowballing” there.

Other stressed out people.

Generally speaking, people have different reasons for being “snowed inside”. The problem is that no one pays attention to their problem and they don’t know who to ask or what to ask at the first place. Most of the time “snowballing” takes place with various consequences when people and their lives end up badly damaged.

Last but not least there are a job hunters.

For unemployed it doesn't matter much as long as snow doesn't affect other elements of their everyday life. Job hunters currently employed are on top of my list as there must be a genuine reason for wanting a new job and if the snow buys them an extra day off, more applications can be filled and more CV's posted. It is only obvious that your chances to find a new job increase with every application you post. And why they became a job hunters at the first place? Well in the most simplistic way they look for place to work where “snowballing” isn't an everyday practice.

Lesson for HR.

Talk to your people regularly. You do make a difference in their life already by employing them and letting them spend almost half of their day in your business. So make sure you make a positive not negative contribution in their lives. Performance appraisals with mix of positive and negative feedbacks are the best way of showing people that you watch them and care for them. Develop them towards achieving their personal goals, not only company training needs. In that way they will see that working for you they grow as persons as well as professionals.

Culture of involvement and participation. Give your employees voice. Let them talk about everything, listen to them and make everything clear and understandable. Let them design their own procedures and you will see the difference in how people respond to the rules made by themselves. The most common misconception of empowering people is that managers think they will loose the power to decide. No you will not. In constructive discussion with employees you are the one who is responsible for all processes to fit in with business strategy. They will understand, as long as you make it clear to them. Participation lies in sharing knowledge and views before decision takes place. Build up knowledge sharing culture. Sharing is caring. Learn from most successful and influential online companies. Facebook, Google, Twitter etc. None of them charge for their services (with exception of premium and business tools) and all information they have share with people for free. Yes knowledge is a power and has to be used wisely but if you make your people to see bigger picture and positive effect of “everyone knowing” results will lead to the tremendous competitive advantage and happy workforce. Reward your people. There are many ways of rewarding your workers and it doesn’t have to cost fortune. Check some of the principles of “Total Reward” and find some inspiration for your reward strategy. Looking at Talent management can help you with retention of some most valuable staff that is probably looking for new job while you read this article.

Finally remember that it is all about business and therefore make sure that any HR intervention links tightly with business strategy. In addition in the process of doing any changes use quick fixes along with slowly implemented long term solutions. That way you maintain steady progress with even better future in the mind.

I have highlighted some important elements of the best practice in HR and indeed none of them can be explained in single blog post. I will continue to spread the right word about any of the concepts eventually, but should anyone have questions feel free to ask. I will be also delighted with any response on this post and discuss any thoughts in depth.

Loaded Theoretical Bomb. Personal Statement of HR Beginner

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:06:00 +0000

5 years I have been studying various subjects related to HRM. It was rather intensive full time journey with ups and downs on the way. Nevertheless I made it and I am proud of it. Today I have both BSc (2.1) and MSc degree in HRM and am proud Assoc CIPD member gathering documentation towards Charted MCIPD upgrade.

My professional development as a HR professional was always supported by my enthusiasm for this field. Active membership on various HR forums, tweeting about all current developments in HR and sharing my life of a “HR-beginner” on HRM today social network and on my blog can be an example of my “HR life”. Reading of professional journals and RSS feeds to keep in touch with all important development in HR world is at the moment my main source of keeping fit in HR sector.

Last few years I had a great opportunity to implement my HR knowledge into everyday life of the organisations I have been working for. I have developed number of “Best Practice” procedures and conducted numeral HR studies involving hotel workforce. My eagerness to use my HR expertise together with my good inter-personal skills helped me to build consultancy relationship with General Manager and HR Manager of the hotel and my role has transformed into strongly focused on people development.

I do realise how volatile business and social environment became in last few years. Unstable economy and concerns of a society about future of almost everything from the way people are recognised, rewarded and developed all the way to the concept of corporate social responsibility. Current climate makes me strongly convinced about the importance of my role as a HR Thinking Performer. My ambitions are to become a forward looking professional who contributes on both organisational but also national level via regular publications of HR related articles. Should everything go smooth I see myself in couple of years studying for PhD and so improve my academic insight.
Nevertheless it is my personal goal to keep in touch with what is reality of a HR contribution to society and believe that HR professionals need to spend more time on the floor no matter how skilled their line managers are. While I am a great believer that "it is all about business" I also believe that influence of HR professionals lie way beyond business case scenarios and that even today function of HR is well underrated and very often misunderstood. I am willing to put all my effort into restructuring how this profession is perceived by all managers, staff, and whole society.

Currently I consider myself as a loaded bomb with theoretical knowledge and while I am well aware of a gap between HR Theory and Practice, working with and for people for over 15 years made me realise how important it is to be humble in presenting my ideas.

In regards to my professional development, there is nothing I wish more than opportunity to work for someone who can supervise my enthusiasm and let me grow towards becoming a HR Champion.

World Statistics Day

noreply@blogger.com (HR Beginner) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:57:00 +0000

I find this very useful and hope that you will too. Statistics about EU and its relation with rest of the world. I found in particular interesting the ratio of EU population (7%) comparing to the contribution to the world GDP (30%). See abstract below before you click on the heading to see more.

"To celebrate World Statistics Day, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, releases on this day a new publication "The EU in the world - a statistical portrait". This publication paints a picture of the EU in relation to the rest of the world using a range of harmonised European and international statistics. It provides data for the EU, the world total and for the 15 non-EU G-20 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States)." Eurostat, 2010