Today’s guest post comes from Benjamin McCall. He runs ReThinkHR.org (subscribe to the RSS) and specializes in OD, T&D and business strategy. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenjaminMcCall. He’s a fantastic guy with a lot of great ideas. He also contributed a piece to the HR Ninja series a while back, and I’m glad he decided to let me share this post!

‘The’ toughest interview question… Is the one you have not prepared for or have never answered!

I could also say that the toughest interview question would be all of them. Continue Reading »

In honor of Father’s Day, I was invited by a friend to write a short tribute to my dad, Brian Eubanks. Please head over to check it out along with a few others who share about their own experiences. You’ll also see where my rugged good looks come from.

By the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve written about my parents, either.

To all the dads out there, I hope you have a great one. I’m going to be a dad very soon as well, so I’ve paid attention more this year than any in the past.

Today we’re rocking a guest post by Nancy Slotnick. I saw recently that she was successful in passing the GPHR exam, and I knew that she’d be a great resource to pull in for a guest post. Plus, she doesn’t have her own blog, so any chance I can get her to do some writing is a win for everyone.

Why did you decide to get your GPHR certification?

I have thought about sitting for the GPHR since taking the SPHR approximately a year before retiring from the Army.  At that time, I was already considering several different options for employment in Human Resources following retirement from the Army, including the possibility of joining the consulting business that my husband had started several years before.  I had spent my 25 year military career in Human Resources and had already decided that I wanted to stay in the profession.

My decisions to pursue my MBA with a focus in Strategic Human Resources as well as to prepare and sit for the SPHR were intended to fill perceived gaps between military HR and civilian HR practice.  At the time, I decided not to sit for the GPHR for two primary reasons.  I did not anticipate doing international work and I did not believe that I had the necessary experience.  At the time, I completely (and incorrectly) discounted the international nature of much of my military service as being applicable to the GPHR. Continue Reading »

Today we have a guest post from Steve Browne, an HR pro who I’ve recently come into contact with and have already developed a respect for. I recently joined his HR Net group, and after you hear what he has to say, you might want to do the same. Hit him up in the comments if you’d like to know more about the group. In this post, he’s sharing his thoughts on HR’s isolation and how we need to be getting out there. Enjoy!

Human Resources is one of the most fulfilling, challenging, uplifting and… lonely professions. You see, almost any position within a company has a place they can go to and vent (HR) or complain about employees (HR) or grouse about Senior Management (HR). Where can HR go?

Often it’s to a bar. I mean really! Since we are the bartenders (with no copyright infringement to Sharlyn Lauby) in our own organizations listening to every story of woe and sense of frustration from our employees about other employees, we’re just missing the long wooden bar and the stools. (That would be a cool office for HR though!)

People are tough. However, that’s why most great HR professionals are in HR! They truly are “people” people. So, where can they go?

The great voices in HR that are flooding the waves of Social Media forums such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter are sending out great messages… But, more often than not, it’s to each other and their great thoughts never reach practitioners.

Why? Continue Reading »

Today’s post is a good one, and it’s even better because I was able to get the fantastic Robin Schooling to share it with all of you! I had the opportunity to meet Robin last weekend, and she was as wonderful in person as she is online. Now have a seat and listen up. She has a lesson for you…

It’s taken me a while to process and think about what I took away from HRevolution.  Other than “The HR Apprentice” session where I was a team captain (thanks Steve Boese) and talked up out of necessity, I primarily sat quietly absorbing content and was the most active-listener I have been in a long time.  I continue to think about (and even dream about – yikes!) conversations and comments and moments.  I had a conversation with my CEO on Monday and told her that it was the best event I ever attended (and my first unConference) but also that I was feeling a bit sad. Continue Reading »

Today I don’t have to ramble at you (aren’t you thrilled?). My pal’s going to do it for me. My buddy Allen Robinson has given me permission to republish the post he’s written about his SHRM experiences. He says they’re not as bad as everyone makes them out to be. I’m not going to agree or disagree with his assessment, but I will shut up and let Allen do some talking. Here we go!

How many times have you heard that SHRM is more or less a waste of space, a dinosaur of an organization or just not meeting the needs of the HR community? I have been hearing this more and more lately.

My view of SHRM apparently is different than the growing disdain among my fellow HR Professionals. As I was developing my knowledge of HR at the University of Michigan, I was given a great deal of support by SHRM either directly or indirectly. There in lies the key to why I feel that SHRM is still a relevant organization. Continue Reading »

Today’s post is by a student in my buddy Steve Boese’s HR Technology class at the Rochester Institute for Technology. Carolina Correa, the author, likes my blog. You can already tell she’s brilliant, right?

Her comments on communication are worth reading twice, and I picked my favorite phrase from her selection as the title for this post. She kept the formatting simple, so any emphasis is mine, but the eloquent words are otherwise her own and make my writing look like an arthritic one legged mule in comparison. Please make her feel welcome!

Blog, Blog, blog, blog…. What is the big deal? Let’s face it-blogging is a form of freedom but not necessarily for everyone. It is a pure form of communication that allows the “blogger” to express an opinion or facts to an audience that either “gets it” or maybe not, and gives the reader a chance to provide feedback whether or not the blogger wants it…

As a tool to the HR community as with many other professional groups, blogging offers a place, a sanctuary of sorts, filled with both familiar and comforting statements and tidbits of industry wisdom stirred together with some thought provoking and sometimes controversial viewpoints.

I digress, the essence of any great blog site has to be value; a message, a connection, a common thread or the clear sense of community and purpose. The usefulness of blogging is pretty much undeniable but nonetheless somewhat misunderstood in the mainstream. To blog or not to blog is a debate that only finds answers when discussed in the context of finding value, this is true not just for the HR community but just about any profession seeking the comforts of connectedness.

Interesting though is the fact that a big part of the HR profession and the community that endeavors to make a living in this field is connection; maybe it’s a wayward piece of knowledge looking for a home, a missing skill set, the “right” person for the job or maybe just a missing perspective on a particular issue for some poor soul trying to save the world (or just his/her job).

Why blog? Who cares why, it’s the process that creates the value and the connections that prove to be both powerful and impactful in helping change the sometimes muddled viewpoint found inside our four walls. HR is alive and blogging is giving us depth of understanding, community, connections and meaningful feedback… or not….

Well? What did you think of Carolina’s post? Leave her a comment below to show her some love.