(This is a guest post by Kristi Daeda. Enjoy!)

It could be, but only if you keep an eye on where the field is moving rather than where it’s been.

When I made the move to HR, I did it because I wanted to make the organization more effective from its foundation — the people and practices that made up the company. I did it because I believed that stronger management, clearer communication, and better employee support would make for a better place to work and stronger business results.

I didn’t do it so that I could organize the holiday party, or photocopy employee benefit enrollment packets, or do the management work–discipline, coaching, recognition–that the managers didn’t want to do. Continue Reading »

Today I have a ranty post inspired by an email from an anonymous reader. Let’s call him Ranty to preserve his current position (sad as it may be).

Update: Krista Francis of Optimistic Workplace has written a helpful set of posts for Ranty. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here. Be sure to check them out!

The Life of a Flunkie

My job is horrible. I took a job with the expectation that I would move up to more responsibility within a few months. My supervisor originally made it clear that he wants to make sure my talents and skills are utilized to build up the company and our department. It’s been almost a year now, and I still come in every day and do the same sucky stuff as always.

Most of my time is spent sorting, organizing, and filing papers. Yes, I know it needs to be done, but I have a degree. I have ideas and the enthusiasm to pursue them. Well, I had the enthusiasm to pursue them. When I started this job, I worked on little improvements left and right. I spent time outside work thinking of ways to help my office and my organization to get better. Continue Reading »

I’ve been pondering a post on interns by Matt Cholerton from Everyone Hates HR, and I have some questions. I am very curious about the use of HR interns. I’m relatively young in my HR career, and I often think back and wish I had some sort of experience as an HR intern. I’d like to delve into the topic of HR interns and HR internships, but I’d like to know a bit more about your experience.

In my (totally unqualified) opinion, I think that established pros should be actively seeking relationships with HR students and entry level HR professionals in order to provide job opportunities through internships. This might be absolutely crazy, but I can still remember my job search. It was Continue Reading »

Thousands of students graduate every year from college with zero experience in their chosen field. Then they head out into the job search and have to make someone believe that they’re a good choice for employment. I was one of those people, and I can tell you that it’s very tough.

Who wants to give you a job when you have no experience, and how can you get experience without a job?

GrouperEye to the rescue!

And that’s where GrouperEye comes in. They have developed an online platform that allows employers to meet and engage with their prospective entry level employees and interns. I spoke with Dave Rodriguez, the President of GrouperEye, and he explained the process to me. It works like this:

Company signs up for an account.

Company posts a “case.”

Students submit their answers to the problem.

The company picks a handful of winners.

The company ends up with a small group of qualified prospective employees, and the students have some experience to put on their resumes. It’s a win-win.

Seems pretty easy, right? That’s what I said! There is so much to be gained from this sort of process. In most cases, companies get hundreds of applications to an open position. Why not filter out those who aren’t serious about working for you by requiring them to participate in a Grouper Eye challenge?

And to take it further, Grouper Eye’s employer back-end panel can be used as an ATS for entry level positions and internships. An example of a current case is one by HealthCentral, who is looking for a social media plan to advance its online presence. Some enterprising student can research, build, and submit a presentation on building a social media plan for this company. And even if that student doesn’t win, he/she has an immediate work sample to take to an interview.

I’ve just scratched the surface of the possibilities, but if you’d like to try it out, then give Dave a shout on Twitter or via the contact page on the site. Don’t miss out!

I grew up working for my parents. Even when I was young, I was helping out around the office of their small business. I learned so much about how the world works firsthand, and I would never take anything for those experiences. I also learned things about management and leadership that I carry with me today.

My wife, dad, brother, and I at a triathlon

Work Hard, Get Rewarded

I can’t remember a week going by where they didn’t have a rush job to get out the door. Screaming customers and scurrying workers made up the sights and sounds of those frantic days. But it wasn’t always 110% hard-driving insanity. When the employees had to work late, I’d often carry them a plate of homemade food from the house. When they had to get there before dawn, I would make a biscuit run to keep them going. And the pizza lunches? I can still remember them fondly. Working your tail off was expected, but you knew that they would still take care of you (especially food-wise!) during those times.

Dive Right In

Remember those frantic times I mentioned? Some people probably figured the boss would be sitting high above, shouting orders and waving frantically to the lowly employees on the floor. Actually, it would have been pretty tough to do that kind of thing while he was working side-by-side with them. I can remember someone telling me one time that it must have been nice to have the employees doing the work for him. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. My dad’s been there at some time between six and seven in the morning every day since I can remember, and he was often that guy who stayed late to finish something and deliver it to a customer. And getting a call at 11:45pm to come pick up a job? He’d be out the door within minutes. People respect someone who can not only talk the talk but also walk the walk.

Being a manager is easier than being a leader.

I know others have talked before about their first jobs. Do you have a story that you’d like to share?

If you’re a fan of Fistful of Talent (I made it into the top 1 zillion blogs over there at some point or another. Boo-ya!), then you may have seen the recent FOTV video where Kris Dunn, AKA the HR Capitalist, gave his rules for new HR professionals to succeed. While he had to be succinct in the video, I had the opportunity to discuss it with him in person recently. He reiterated his points and made sure that I understood completely where he was coming from. His main ideas are in bold, and my own commentary follows each point.

Know HR and Execute

If you’re going to build some credibility as a new HR professional, then you’re going to have to prove that you know your stuff. If you are a dunce when it comes to HR matters, then no amount of passion or people skills will get people to follow your lead. If you have to take some classes, get your certification, or just do more in the area of career development, don’t let anything stand in your way from being knowledgeable in the HR arena.

Have an opinion. (passion=credibility)

Too many HR professionals are afraid to put their foot down and stick to their guns. If you want to show people that you’re a wishy-washy, spineless drone, then don’t ever take a stand on anything. And let me know how that goes for you. Probably not well.

Another point that he made in the video was that passion equals credibility. It was a quick comment mentioned in passing, but it was the phrase that struck me the hardest. Passion equals credibility. Is that really true for a new HR professional? If I’m passionate about something, does that mean that I’m automatically credible? I can’t say that it will always be true, but I could make the case that if you’re sufficiently passionate about a certain topic (HR, perhaps?), then you would certainly be credible as well.

Communicate in multiple ways

All too many of my generational brethren are completely incapable of expressing themselves. Whether it’s face-to-face, written, or just verbal communication, each has a definite impact on your ability to succeed as a new HR professional. Know how to express yourself verbally, nonverbally, and in the written form. It will make an amazing difference. I’ve always written fairly well, but once I started writing on a daily basis, I realized just how much better my overall communication skills had become.

So, if you’re a new HR professional, and you’re looking for some tips on how to be successful, then I think you should be focusing on these items at the very least. I think you’d be surprised at how much of a difference it will make in your own career. And if you have another rule for new HR professionals, then please drop it in the comments below. I’m collecting these for an upcoming project, and I’d love to have more input.

In the past week or two, posting has been sporadic. There are several reasons for that (as you’ll see below). I’ve been reading some amazing posts from my blogger friends, trying to meet a fast-approaching deadline, and planning the future of this site. I hope you read stick around, because you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

First, I’d like to apologize for the double posts you may have received in your feed reader in the past week. I was trying to submit the blog to Technorati, and I’m thinking that’s what messed with the feed. I’m not sure, because I was also toying around with some Feedburner features at the same time. Anyway, if your feed reader was flooded with UpstartHR, I’m hoping it won’t happen again (unless it’s purposeful!).

Next, I’d like to share a little about some projects that I’m working on. Some of them are UpstartHR solo gigs, and others are partner endeavors with some people you all (should) know and love.

• HRevolution-Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that HRevolution is coming. We are getting ready to set some of the details later this week, and Trish and I are very excited to let everyone know the status of your soon-to-be-favorite event.
• HR Ninjas-The HR ninjas just keep coming! I don’t know why people love these things, but they do. Feel free to get one to wear to your next Casual Friday. I guarantee your HR pals will love it.
• The Master List-The Creative Chaos Consultant is working on a project. He needs your help. Are you on… Twitter? LinkedIn? Blogging? If you are in the HR field and involved in social media in any way, check out his post today and give him a hand. He’s a friend of mine, and I’d appreciate it if you could stop by!
• 

  Rock the PHR

  Rock the PHR eBook-I’ve been working on an eBook for a while now, and it’s been tough. I’m in the editing stages right now, and I’m hoping to get it out very soon. After seeing how popular the free PHR study guide was, I decided to put out a premium version called Rock the PHR with some amazing goodies included. Public thanks to April of PseudoHR for the assistance. She did a good bit of the legwork, and I’d have been pushed back even farther if not for her help. In fact, she is still gathering more information that is going to be packaged as a special bonus. Stay tuned for more news later this week (hopefully!).

• Smile Week Contest-To those that entered the Smile Week Contest, I really appreciate it. After you read the rest of this post, you’ll see why you haven’t yet received your prizes. Don’t worry,  I haven’t forgotten you!
• NASHRM blog-I’m working with my local SHRM chapter to get a blog up and running. Much of the hard part is already done, and we’re mainly waiting on the more mundane/administrative parts to finish it completely. And a big thanks goes out to Stephen of HR Gumbo for giving me a hand.
• HR Capitalist-I’m meeting Kris Dunn, the HR Capitalist, today for the first time. We live about 45 minutes from each other. It’s not like we’re seven states apart or anything! He’s coming to do a presentation at NASHRM on social media. Very excited.
• Jobacle eBook-I’m talking with Andrew over at Jobacle about getting another eBook started. If you haven’t visited Jobacle before, you’re missing out. A gem is the annual Sick Day Calendar, which helps you plan your sick days months ahead of time, so you can get the most out of holidays and other events.
• NewHR guide-The next UpstartHR product is going to be focused on the entry level HR professional. I can’t mention any pertinent details just yet, but I’m already planning something that is going to be huge.
• 2nd Guest Post Blitz-I’ve been trying to focus inward in recent weeks, but I have four or five requests for guest posts currently that I’m going to try to fill with another Guest Post Blitz. The first one was very popular, and it’s a unique way to handle the guest post scenario. I’ll probably end up giving half the HR blogosphere the day off by the time I’m through.
• Baudville-I recently had the opportunity to interview Baudville for a great post on the Jobacle blog, and it inspired this bit of humor that’s been missing from UpstartHR in recent weeks…

This stuff is just a dent in the surface of all that’s going on, but maybe now you see why I drink from a 2-liter bottle of Diet Mountain Dew? If you’re not subscribed, but you think you’d like to be a part of more of the coming events and projects, feel free to join the movement! You can get free email updates every week.