Last week, I spoke to a local Human Resources Group (the Northern Kentucky SHRM Chapter) about using Social Media as an HR professional along with David Cohen, a Senior Account Executive from LinkedIn. David did a great job of covering how LinkedIn can be utilized by HR and Recruiting professionals – including some of the cool features available with their corporate solutions. My job was to talk about some other tools to consider beyond LinkedIn — in about 15 minutes. Fueled by probably one too many Diet Cokes in advance, it's entirely possible that I completed my presentation in record time. Click on the link below to view a copy of the slide deck:

Cincy Recruiter's Social Media for HR Professionals Beyond LinkedIn 4 16 2009 on Slideshare

Here's a brief summary of my recommendations in the presentation including links for you to check them out:

Read/subscribe to Blogs, News Feeds, etc. to stay current.

There's a ton of great, leading edge content out on the world wide web to make us better as HR/Recruiting/Talent pros. The best way to access it is via RSS using some type of Reader. The second best way – via email subscription. For an HR starter pack, I recommend:

• Fistful of Talent – a multi-contributor blog where you'll get a variety of viewpoints in HR, Recruiting & Talent Management. (Added bonus – my ramblings appear of FOT every now and then too.)
• Benefits Buzz – Kris Dunn (the brains behind The HR Capitalist and Fistful of Talent) recently launched a second multi-contributor blog covering all things Benefits. While it's tough to make Benefits exciting and interesting, these folks are doing a nice job of bringing a little sexy back to this corner of the HR world.
• Compensation Cafe – Ann Bares' blog Compensation Force is where I go to get the latest news and thought provoking ideas about the world of compensation. Ann recently launched Compensation Cafe – where she and several other compensation pros will drop some knowledge on all things comp. 
• ERE.net – The Columns and Articles on ERE are a fantastic resource for HR pros with Recruiting responsibilities. 
• Alltop – For those who want to add more to their starter pack – find additional blogs of interest at Alltop, where feeds have been categorized and made available in a "magazine rack" format. You can browse several categories and check out what you like. A variety of HR and Recruiting blogs (including Cincy Recruiter's World) can be found in the Careers category.

Join Profession-Based Social Networks for HR.

Unfortunately, I see too many HR professionals who have isolated themselves from their peers and the outside world. Building effective professional relationships is critical for career development and some of the on-line professional networking options can be very helpful in that regard. These resources allow HR peeps to connect with each other, ask/answer questions, find resources, etc. Some recommendations:

• The HR Net – a global on-line resource for HR professionals to ask/answer questions that is facilitated by Steve Browne – Executive Director of Human Resources at LaRosa's, Inc. Steve is a super-connected HR pro and sought after speaker whose goal is to put the "fun" back in HR. He shares an original HR themed song each week in an email summarizing recent activity on the Net. (Connect to the HR Net by emailing Steve here.)
• HRMToday.com – Find blogs, groups, forums and other HR pros to connect with and become a part of the community. Recently started by HR bloggers Lance Haun, Laurie Ruettimann and Jenn Barnes, it's growing fast and becoming a great resource. 
• RecruitingBlogs.com – Similar to HRMToday, RBC is the place where Recruiters of all types are connecting. With over 16,000 members, it's a great place to connect with the recruiting community. 
• ERE.net – In addition to the content mentioned above that is produced by the writers at ERE, there are many different Discussion Groups to ask and answer questions on a variety of topics.
• SHRM Connect – coming soon from SHRM – a new "social-network" for HR pros! I'm excited to see how this one turns out so stay tuned. 

Facebook and Twitter – HR Can Use Them Too!

We also talked briefly about using Facebook and Twitter as HR pros – mostly to wake people up after their food comas had set in. Of the 100 or so attendees, maybe 10% were on Facebook, and it looked like about 5 were on Twitter. There are huge possibilities for both tools in HR – and most definitely for Recruiting and Employment Branding. Hopefully, a few of the attendees were inspired to at least begin to try them out.

If you're interested in more of my thoughts on social media resources for HR and Recruiting pros – check out my recent posts on Fistful of Talent – 5 Must Use Social Media Tools for HR & Recruiting Professionals in 2009 and 5 (More) Must Use Social media Tools for HR & Recruiting Professionals in 2009.

What are your thoughts about how HR pros can effectively use some of the social media tools beyond LinkedIn? What did I miss? What are your concerns? I'd love to hear from you in the Comments!