Monthly Archives: December 2009

Looking back at 2009 and forward to 2010

After all of the “end of 2009” and “here comes 2010” posts I’ve been reading, I realized I haven’t done my own! I checked my phone, and I have lots of jumbled ideas. Maybe I can straighten them out and have some smooth sailing into the new year. Let’s unpack, shall we? I’m just typing as fast as I can and will probably miss quite a few things.

Looking back at 2009

Created UpstartHR

I created UpstartHR and really got into writing online. It’s been an eye-opening experience for me, and I am thrilled to be a part of an amazing community.

Made LOTS of friends

I don’t have the space or time to mention all of the friends and acquaintances I’ve made this year. Andrew, April, Jim, Victorio, Trish, Steve B., Steve H., Rich, Lance, Chris F., Crystal, Joan, Margo, Mark, Paul, Michael, Kelly, Alicia, and Allen are just the tip of the iceberg. If I didn’t mention your name, please leave a comment below and hassle me for it. I promise it’s not on purpose.

HRevolution Continue reading →

How I got immediate value from joining a SHRM chapter

local shrm chapterNote: this post is not encouraging anyone to spam a group of people. It’s only a recount of my own experience. If you spam your local HR pros, you could get booted from the SHRM chapter. Fair warning!

Back in the spring of 2009, I started looking for my first HR job. While I graduated college a year earlier than that, I had to work for my employer for a year since they paid for my final semester of college. I knew that it was time to step out of the small pond and jump into the world of HR with both feet. At that time, I was working with Andrew at Jobacle as a staff writer. In a fortunate coincidence, I had interviewed JT O’Donnell for a story on the Jobacle blog, and after a brief mention that I was job searching, we began to work together. JT is a great career coach, and her company, CAREEREALISM, is the place to go if you’re a job seeker looking for help.

Within a week, an entry level HR position with a local nonprofit opened up. I went for it. I wrote a cover letter, attached my resume, and sent it to their in-house recruiter. The only problem is that I knew that everyone else who applied for the job would do that exact same thing. I had to make it better. Continue reading →

2009-Still Time for Success

successI’m always a bit teary-eyed as the year comes to a close. I simultaneously look back at the previous months and forward to those ahead and mentally measure my accomplishments against my expectations. One of the projects that I’ve been happy to watch come to fruition is the development of this blog.

Although RocketHR has only been cranking along for a few months now, I can tell that it is going to continue to become more popular in the coming year. How do I measure that success? Well, it’s getting steady traffic and subscribers, and it’s helping people to better themselves and their organizations. I’d call that a success.

In this final week of 2009, can you look back at your own year and honestly say that you were successful? Continue reading →

Merry Freaking Christmas

merry freaking christmasI’m pretty good friends with Steve at HR Gumbo. We talked about this a good bit before we both posted. You might like to read his post on regulating holidays to make sure you get the “whole” story.

I’m definitely one of those people who gets angry when their company tells them how they can and cannot celebrate the approaching holiday. My last job was like that. My current one isn’t. I work in a radically different culture from a public institution. I’m in the far extreme side of the spectrum. The nonprofit organization that I work for is technically classified as a church, if that gives you any indication. But if someone brought in something representing another holiday, I can’t see us bashing their head in for it.

Christmas decorations rant Continue reading →

5 Tips for Human Resources Leadership

human resource leadershipHuman resources is a vital function for an organization’s survival. With the proper tools, a good HR department can turn sticky problems around, increase revenues, and lead/challenge the organization to become better overall. The only problem?

Many organizations lack strong human resources leadership.

That fault may be intra-organization or intra-department. If the human resources staff has weak leadership, then there’s a good chance that HR within the entire organization is weak as well. If the organization has weak leadership, then there’s a good chance that they won’t give HR a chance to shine. Whatever the case, weakness like that can cripple an organization.

We All Know and Hate It Continue reading →

25 Ways People Found Me

questionsI am always interested in finding out how people learn about me. But sometimes the information or avenue can be a bit… Um, weird? Yeah, that’s about the only way I can put it. Check out these 25 ways people found me via Google. If you’re one of them, I hope you found what you came for. And it looks like a lot of people ended up here looking for zombie info. Maybe you found that, too.

  1. Can You Train a Zombie? I haven’t, but it doesn’t mean you can’t try. Just keep an eye on your brains.
  2. why i didn’t pass the sphr exam Probably because you didn’t have an awesome study resource to help.
  3. passing the gphr I got some search traffic on this one, but I sure as heck don’t know how to pass the GPHR. Anyone out there in the audience GPHR certified?
  4. HR formulas I feel bad for the people who used that one. It takes you to a post with absolutely nothing useful in it. One of my earlier, funnier posts. I keep meaning to go back and fix that, but it slips my mind…
  5. can sphr be passed without experience No, because you have to have experience to take the SPHR. It’s not the same with the PHR, but it will be in 2011.
  6. creativity for hr professionals Creativity is what I have more than enough of. I can’t get that darn brain to shut off. Now if I only had the time to make it useful, things would be wildly different.
  7. recruiting rock Hmmm… Is that a song? A recruiter for rocks? I can’t figure out that one!
  8. 10 reasons why you’re a zombie All of them probably start with “because you were bitten, you idiot.”
  9. computer is dying before upstart is ready Ummm. What?
  10. dude you’re a zombie There’s really no way to break the news to them easy, you know? Continue reading →

Is HR an art or science?

art

Art

A reader recently emailed to ask me if I thought HR was more of an art or a science. My quick answer was “both.” Projects, programs, and strategies all (should be) based on solid numbers and facts. Otherwise, why do them at all? However, the more day-to-day interactions that most of us are familiar with seems to be more of an art. When you’re flying by the seat of your pants and making quick decisions based on your gut instincts, there’s not much science involved.

This is a large snippet of a post called HR is an art, but you should act like a scientist from Renegade HR. I read it a while back, but I came across it a few days ago and thought it was appropriate. Continue reading →