Blog | Jennifer McClure`

11.12.09 HR Happy Hour Blog Talk Radio Show Featuring the Fistful of Talent Crew

If you haven’t been paying attention lately, there’s a lot of cool people doing some new and innovative things in the HR/Recruiting/Talent Management space and one of those things is a BlogTalk Radio show hosted by Steve Boese and Shauna Moerke (the HR Minion) called HR Happy Hour.

Started as an opportunity for HR pros to chat, vent and discuss the burning issues of the day,the HR Happy Hour has turned into a “must attend” event bi-monthly (sort of) on Thursday evenings at 8 p.m. EST. I’ve been a guest previously on Episode 10 – The Job Seeker’s Show and was also fortunate to be in attendance when the show went on the road recently for two live broadcasts – Episode 17 for the Fail Spectacularly party in Chicago (put on by Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR and Jason Seiden – who’s new book Super Staying Power launched this week) and Episode 18 at HRevolution in Louisville, Kentucky this past weekend.

Next up – Episode 19, where the Fistful of Talent crew will tackle Next Gen HR – sharing our thoughts and opinions on the future of Talent and HR in general. As someone who has plenty of opinions, I’ll definitely be calling in – and we’ll see if I catch any grief for being lame and not posting often enough over at FOT. (I solemnly vow to improve – I promise!)

If you’re available Thursday night, you should definitely call in or listen to the show live (or the archive at a later date/time) via the BlogTalk Radio channel. You can also lurk or participate in the smack talk on Twitter via the hash tag #HRHappyHour – (follow that here.) Another way to participate if you’re truly snarky (and have been deemed cool enough by the Google gods to receive an invite) is the irreverent HR Happy Hour back channel discussion that goes on over at Google Wave. On the Wave and want to jump in? Leave a comment with your Wave address and I’ll add you to the discussion.

With all of this talking, tweeting and waving going on, clearly, you’ll want to be a part of HR Happy Hour Thursday night. See you there/here!

Written by Jennifer McClure

Using Social Media In HR & Recruiting

As mentioned in a previous post, I was fortunate to be able to attend the SummitUp Social Media Confab in Dayton, OH this week and also to lead a Breakout session on Using Social Media In HR & Recruiting. The Confab (conference) was awesome, and I'll share some more information with my takeaways from the event in a separate post. I also thought I'd share a copy of my presentation here, as it's been well received on Slideshare.net since posted during the conference. (Email subscribers – click through to the blog to view the presentation.)

Using Social Media In HR & Recruiting 10 20 2009 SummitUp Conference

View more presentations from Jennifer McClure.

A brief takeaway document was also provided with some resources for those who'd like to do some additional research. The resources are listed on the last slide of presentation as well as below – including links.

SummitUp – Using Social Media in HR & Recruiting Resources

Companies using Social Media well to watch & learn from:

Who Should Recruiters Follow on Twitter? 100+ Suggestions

Getting Your HR Friends on Twitter? Start Here

Companies Recruiting on Twitter

Jennifer McClure’s Social Media Policy tags on Delicious – updates each time I tag a blog post or news article with the tag "socialmediapolicy"

Online Database of Social Media Policies

Air Force Blog Assessment Policy (Good Communication/Response Guide)

Bonus: Here are links to the Twitterable Twitter Policy, Two-Word Corporate Blogging Policy and The HR Capitalist Social Media Policy included in the presentation, which are found on the awesome blogs Gruntled Employees and The HR Capitalist. (Hope you're a subscriber!)

I'll be doing a couple of similar presentations on this topic in the near future. If you have additional questions, resources, comments or suggestions to add, I'd love for you to share them in the Comments section below!

Written by Jennifer McClure

5 Reasons to Attend SummitUp on October 20th

Next week, I’ll be leading a Breakout Session at a Social Media Conference called SummitUp in Dayton, OH on Tuesday, October 20th. My topic will be “Using Social Media in HR and Recruiting” and I’m super excited about this opportunity! To learn more about what we’ll be discussing in my session, you can listen to a brief podcast I did recently with one of the organizers – David Bowman – here.

Why am I so excited about this event? Because the agenda is packed with speakers who are some of the true Thought Leaders, Gurus, Experts, etc. (pick the term most palatable to you) in using social media from the Greater Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus areas and beyond. I’m truly honored to be able to attend the Conference – let alone to be asked to contribute!

So without further ado, here’s my personal Top 5 Reasons to attend SummitUp at Wright State University in Dayton, OH:

Top 5 Reasons to attend SummitUp:

Chris Brogan. Enough said. Chris will be delivering the closing Keynote and as an official CB Groupie, the opportunity to hear him speak in person is worth the price of admission!
All attendees will receive a copy of Chris Brogan’s new book – Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust. (Free helpful stuff = Coolness.)
Kevin Dugan‘s opening Keynote. Kevin is widely recognized as one of the leading minds in the world of PR and always brings a perspective to social media that’s wicked smart and user-friendly at the same time. (And he’s a Cincinnati favorite!)
Mid-day Keynote speaker Bob Garfield. Who wouldn’t want to hear from someone who’s Bio states: “He isn’t exactly a media whore, but he’s extremely promiscuous”? Attendees also get a copy of Bob’s 3rd book – The Chaos Scenario.
If you’re in the Greater Cincinnati area – or within reasonable driving distance – this Conference is a steal at $139. (Heck – even if you have to fly here – that’s money well spent!)

The remaining speakers throughout the day are an impressive group and they’ll lead discussions covering a variety of aspects of using social media for business and professional development.

I’m looking forward to making some great connections at the Conference and learning about the future of social media. If you’ll be there, be sure to say hello!

Want to join me? Get more details and information here.

Written by Jennifer McClure

SHRM’s 2009 Ohio State Conference: It Rocked and Shocked

News flash! 2009 has officially been renamed “The Year Jennifer McClure Was Able to Raise Her Game by Attending Some Awesome Conferences”. So it has been written, so shall it be done…

This year, I’ve been fortunate to attend several great Conferences and I’ve really enjoyed learning about what’s happening in the world of HR/Recruiting/Talent Management, as well as networking with some really smart people. The most recent Conference I attended – the Ohio SHRM State Conference – was no exception!

The Best of Ohio SHRM

Tory Johnson – Founder and CEO of Women for Hire and author of Fired to Hired kicked off the Conference with the opening Keynote. She shared much of her own personal career success story and talked about the impact of the current economy on organizations. One of the topics she addressed was the importance of marketing and branding in order to attract top talent and at one point, she asked the crowd of 525 attendees (I guessed wrong in my tweet below) how many worked at companies that were using Facebook or Twitter as part of their strategy and only about 20 hands were raised. Gulp. That was an OR question. Suddenly I realized I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. (Yeah, I know. I’m in Ohio. But work with me people.)

The next session I attended was led by my good friend Steve Browne. Steve is an HR practitioner with a fancy title and some letters after his name – Executive Director of HR and SPHR – but he prefers to be called an HR Anarchist and a Seriously Proactive Human Radical. The Clash provided the inspiration for his presentation (that’s a 70’s punk rock band for you youngsters), which covered Confronting Conformity, Liberating Leaders, Allowing Anarchy, Smashing the Silos and Harnessing the Humanity. (Get it? CLASH) Steve’s a fantastic speaker who is passionate about HR and truly wants to inspire HR people to lead in their organizations: “We need to quit being in ‘HR’ – we need to be in ‘business’!”

Steve Browne – HR Anarchist – SHRM Ohio Conference 9 16 2009 from Jennifer McClure on Vimeo.

Another speaker who rallied the troops with his presentation was Pat Perry, President of ERC. Pat’s bio indicates he was named one of America’s Best Bosses and I loved the motto at his organization: “Believe in what you are doing. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. (Or leave.)” So clearly he’s got street cred when it comes to his topic “Straight Talk About Great Workplaces”. Pat proposed that strong employment branding is the future of recruiting, communication is a differentiator of great companies and empathetic leadership (having a heart and soul) is the most critical leadership need. He views HR’s role in the new economy as that of Talent Agent – harvesting, coaching and supporting the organization’s Talent. He’s bullish on right now being one of the best times ever for smart companies to hire some great people – and he believes that starts with HR.

Eric Winegardner – VP of Client Adoption at Monster Worldwide – led an interesting session on “Finding Keepers – Hiring for the Long Term in a Down Economy” and quickly dissuaded any fears that his session would be a commercial for Monster.com. Topics discussed included how to attract “Keepers” (make sure your company is a Keeper), where to find them (some are likely rotting away in your ATS) and how to sell them on your company (know what they have/what they don’t AND what they want). One interesting discussion revealed that in a crowd which included representatives from several mid to large-size companies (a few with over 10k employees), about 2/3 of those in attendance indicated that they didn’t have any type of Applicant Tracking System. And again, when using social networks for recruiting and employment branding was brought up, attendees professed the same level of implementation as in the opening session – virtually none.

My Overall Conference Experience = Thumbs Up

I attended several other good sessions and enjoyed some great networking at the Ohio SHRM Conference. I was able to meet new people and made some good connections that could result in future business opportunities. This was definitely one of the most organized and well-run conferences I’ve been to and the location and amenities provided at the Kalahari Resort were top shelf. Easily accessible free wi-fi, nice hotel rooms and good food all within walking distance to the conference facility (under one roof) gets a thumbs up from me as a first-rate Conference experience!

The Big Takeaway

I left the Conference more concerned than I was previously about HR’s understanding and implementation (or lack thereof) of social media to build their careers and improve their organizations. It’s not that I believe that using social media/social networks is the most important thing going in the people biz, but I just don’t understand how HR professionals (and the companies they work for) can continue to ignore it. I spent a lot of time talking with Conference attendees and was surprised to meet several who indicated that they didn’t even have a LinkedIn profile. Their reasons included not knowing how to get started, companies blocking everything, concerns about legal risks and control – and my favorite: “I don’t ever want to be found on the internet”. (Yes – that was a quote.)

The good news is that the majority of people that I talked to were interested in learning more about how to use social media and I’d like to encourage SHRM Conference organizers (and local chapters) to take a look at their programming and offer some sessions or training to help HR pros get on the adoption curve. While the “hot” networks or tools will likely change in the future, the shift towards building relationships, being open to dialogue and improving engagement with talent pre and post hire isn’t going away any time soon.

Where Do We Go From Here?

What suggestions do you have for HR Conference organizers or your local SHRM Chapters in regards to the types of speakers and programs you’d like to see on the Agenda? Are the masses ready to move beyond employment law and administration topics yet? The Comments are yours…

Written by Jennifer McClure

Who Should Recruiters Follow On Twitter? 100+ Suggestions

One of the most popular posts on this blog continues to be 10 People All Recruiters Should Follow on Twitter – and two of the top ten search phrases that land people here are "Twitter for Recruiters" and "Recruiters to follow on Twitter". Hopefully, when they arrive here, they're finding helpful content on using Twitter for Sourcing/Recruiting and thanks to a heads up from HR Technology Blogger Steve Boese recently about a new Twitter app (TweepML), I'd like to share a suggested "Recruiter Twitter Starter Pack" of 100 Recruiters/HR/Talent Management professionals that I recommend following on Twitter.

One of the coolest things about TweepML lists is that you can click on one button to automatically follow everyone on the suggested list or view the profiles and select just a few. Users can create lists of up to 100 suggested Follows, so while my list doesn't include everyone in the industry that I follow or learn from, I tried to create a good mix that would be helpful for a Recruiter/HR pro new to Twitter or someone building a network of Talent Management professionals.

So without further ado, click on the icon below to access my suggested Recruiter Twitter Starter Pack:

Bonus #1: Steve shared two lists of his suggested Follows for HR and Recruiting Peeps (that's 200 people on Twitter) on his blog – Steve Boese's HR Technology – and I'd suggest that you go here and follow his suggestions as well. There's definitely some overlap in our lists, but that just confirms that great minds think alike.

Bonus #2: Follow @badbanana. Nothing to do with recruiting or HR, but a seriously funny dude who makes me laugh every day. And I deal with people here in Cincy Recruiter's World, which means some days I desperately need a laugh!

If you've been a late adopter or a Twitter-Hater, hopefully you're starting to thaw – or at least develop a slight interest in figuring out how to use this increasingly popular tool in your sourcing and recruiting efforts. (If not, you can always bookmark this post and come back to it later when you reach that point… like tomorrow, or maybe next week.)

Who'd I miss on my Recruiter/Talent Management suggestions? Add yourself or your suggestions in the Comments so people can find you here!

11.12.09 HR Happy Hour Blog Talk Radio Show Featuring the Fistful of Talent Crew