Author Archives: Ben

20+ Ideas to Inspire Creativity

This isn\’t going to appeal to everyone, but I\’m putting it out there just the same. I get questions often from my many blogging friends. They usually center on finding new ideas to write about and keeping the spark of creativity alive. Even though I\’m technically an HR newbie, I pride myself in creativity. I wrote a lot of fiction before I started writing the kind of stuff that I do now, and I\’ve always been able to cobble together a story from a single thought fragment. So here are some ideas for you to inspire your own creativity. If you\’re a blogger, you\’ll be using these ideas for that. If you\’re not, then they might help you with something else. Trying to solve a problem at work? #6 has helped me with that dozens of times. I\’ve also included these as a free PDF for your downloading pleasure! Put it up by your computer and check it when you\’re stuck. 20+ Ideas to Inspire Creativity

1. Take an old post and explore it from a different angle.

2. What do you read? Watch? Listen to? Enjoy? Each is a source of inspiration!

3. Open your RSS reader. Find a post you starred/enjoyed. Write a corollary or a counterpoint.

4. Use Google Alerts to show you news on a given topic.

5. Use Google Trends to find something “hot” to write about.

6. Turn off the radio in the car. You’d be surprised what happens when you don’t have music drowning out your “voice.”

7. Make a funny top 10 list.

8. Find a calendar of holidays and pick one to write about.

9. Find a quote that hits you a particular way and expand it into a paragraph or two.

10. Take a well-known phrase and apply it to your blog’s focus to develop a topic.

11. Review an item that you’ve used recently (book, movie, service, etc.)

12. Take two or more blog posts from other bloggers and tie them together with some of your own thoughts.

13. Predict something. It can be funny or serious, but it should stimulate readers.

14. Take an opposing stance to your normal ideas and try to make it convincing.

15. Force yourself to come up with 25 ideas for something. Anything. Twenty four of them might be horrible, but one could be a gem! 50 is better.

16. Write from a different point of view. Maybe try to demonstrate the POV from the VP level, manager level, and entry level.

17. Find someone to talk with about your blog. It can give you ideas, get you motivated, and help you propel yourself to a new level.

18. Find a new place to write. Even if that means lying in the closet floor with a laptop (Hey, whatever works!).

19. Comment on other blogs and use that as the basis for a new post. Similar to #3, but you give the other blogger a little comment love as well.

20. Go back and pick one of your first dozen posts to update.

21. Save your drafts. Even if it’s not looking like a good post, you never know when inspiration will strike and help you turn that puppy around.

22. Have a conversation in person with someone. Let that stimulate your brain. Quote the person in the post (people love that!).

23. Revisit your blog’s purpose and what you want to accomplish. Just refreshing yourself on that should give you some ideas, especially if you can think back to why you started it in the first place.

Job Fair Recruiting Fail

This is the recount of a troubling situation relayed to me by a friend earlier this week. I\’m using pseudonyms for the sake of all involved.

For his first job fair appearance, I gave my friend Bill some advice that I felt would help him to have meaningful conversations with the recruiters. While he wondered about a tiny resume tweak, the type of paper to print on, and other minor details, I got him to focus on an overall strategy. Instead of walking around and tossing resumes onto the table for the 70+ employers present, I told him to do a bit of research and find 10-15 of the companies that he would enjoy working for. Then, I made him research each of those organizations, at least on the surface level, so that he could speak intelligently with the recruiters that represented each company. That, I told him, would make a much bigger difference than any other little changes he wanted to try.

Anyway, Bill attended the event, and I called him afterward to check in. Here\’s the paraphrase ofÂ theÂ first half of our conversation.

I met a great guy at the XZY Corporation table. He was friendly and helpful, and we spent a few minutes chatting about the organization and what it does. Although I\’m not as knowledgeable about the company as I should be, it made me feel great when he took the time to talk to me in a private conversation beyond the normal â€œspiel.â€ By the time the conversation was over, I was excited about the opportunity to work for his organization.

Wow. That recruiter nailed it. He took a minor interest and turned his company into one of Bill\’s top three choices! Plus, he\’s raving about the company already. And what did it take? About 180 seconds of the recruiter\’s time.

The second half of our conversation was less positive, but it still needs to be recapped. People are doing this, and it needs to stop.

Then I went to the ABC Organization table. The recruiter looked at me like he was bored, so I started the conversation. But it didn\’t take. The guy was like a brick wall. I gave him my resume, hoping that might spark some interest. He criticized it almost immediately. Then he gave it back to me. And that was pretty much the whole exchange. He told me to apply online. Not happening.

Wow (again). That recruiter sucks. In an inverse of the previous example, he took Bill\’s minor interest and turned his company into the last possible choice. And he gave the resume back, supposedly because he could just apply online after the event.

I haven\’t had a lot of experience on the recruiting side of a job fair, but I know that some of you have. Is this kind of thing acceptable? If you or one of your fellow recruiters was acting like the guy from the 2nd example, would you be okay with that? I say it\’s a failure, because as a job seeker, I would hate to run into that kind of attitude.

Photo by clar@bell.

Leaders are Mentors

We can all learn from someone

I apologize for the problem with the post this morning. Issues have been fixed. If you see anything that’s not working correctly, let me know. Thanks!

Whether purposefully or not, leaders are mentors. As the term “leaders” implies, they are usually at the forefront of the action. And the younger and/or less experienced people in the workforce look to them for guidance. What exactly is a mentor? Well, Dictionary.com gives us this short and sweet rendition:

Mentor-a wise and trusted counselor or teacher

You can mentor someone on purpose. There are formal programs that have well-developed strategic plans and goals for these relationships. You can also mentor someone informally through your daily actions. You might not even know that you’re being observed, but leaders are hard to ignore.

Want a chance to be a mentor or a mentee? Consider starting a mentor program in your organization or in your local area. Even if it’s a group of two (mentor and mentee), it’s still worth the effort if both parties have clear expectations and “feed” the relationship regularly. And if you prefer not to start your own, then check out the mentor program that NASHRM has put together.

Have tips for developing a mentor program or on how to get the most out of the relationship? Leave a comment below so everyone can learn from your experience.

A 1000:1 Ratio is a Problem

I bet you have a process at your company to reprimand employees. You probably cover everything from verbal and written reprimands all the way to suspensions. I\’m quite certain that every organization has a way to notify employees when they are performing poorly.

With that said, does your organization have a way to commend employees for a job well done? Aside from a short and sweet â€œattaboyâ€ or â€œattagirl,â€ do you have a way to show your appreciation in a written format?

I\’ve seen hundreds (thousands?) of reprimands. I\’ve seen a single commendation. That leads me to two possibilities. One, there really aren\’t any other staff members who deserve being commended for performing well (not likely). Or two, there aren\’t any supervisors willing to commend someone for doing well (quite likely).

Or maybe it\’s more benign, and the supervisors really don\’t know the power of a short note letting someone know that he/she knocked it out of the park.

Whatever the cause, it\’s a problem that needs to be addressed. I\’m willing to bet that many of you work in companies that are similar. Check out your ratio. I don\’t think you should be praising your employees daily for every little action, but when someone really takes up the slack and goes above and beyond, then it really wouldn\’t hurt to show some appreciation.

Photo by Sidelong

RocketHR is Born

Social media is growing, and there’s no end in sight. Recently, Kris Dunn came and spoke to my local SHRM chapter about social media and its uses for HR professionals.Â It’s interesting that he was slated to come in August, because I had proposed a chapter blog shortly before then. I envisioned something like the work that Stephen has done with HR Gumbo, but probably not as awesome. Anyway, a few weeks of frenzied work behind the scenes led to the current site.

One potential issue was that we weren’t sure how the blog would play out in the long run. What if I moved away? What if I suddenly hated blogging? To smooth that wrinkle, I promised updates every week on Monday, since most of the people reading wouldn’t be able to keep up with more than that. After a year, we will reassess and see if we can draw in more writers, because I would like to do more with the chapter in a hands-on capacity whenever possible.

And RocketHR was born.

I’m hoping that it can be used as social media “training wheels” for the members of the chapter (and anyone else out there who’s delving into SM for the first time). The first posts are directed toward those fresh faces, so make sure and point people in that direction if you think they can learn something useful!

Have someone you’re trying to convert to social media? The post on the social web might be helpful as a primer.
Need to explain Google Reader to someone? Keep the Google Reader tutorial close at hand.
Know something that might be useful to someone new to the social media space? Leave a comment!
Are you new to this stuff? If so, then please let me know what you’d like to learn!

And as always, any assistance in promoting this new blog would help greatly in proving its worth as a tool for my local chapter. Thanks!

And the snazzy logo was created by my good friend Allen Robinson (@logicwriter).

Guest Post Blitz #2

Hold on for dear life!

I’m notorious for being unorganized, but I have several guest posts that went live (fairly recently) elsewhere that you may have missed. Some of them might be a bit different flavor than the usual UpstartHR offerings, so be sure to check them out!

CAREEREALISM – 4 Tips from an HR Insider

JT at CAREEREALISM worked with me when I was trying to land a job earlier this year, and she invited me to join the TAP program shortly afterward. If I ever decide to leave my current position, she’s going to get a call from me!

Lighter Side of HR – Leaving Work Stress Behind

Connie at Halogen hit me up for a post, and I certainly couldn’t turn her down. Sometimes it’s tough writing HR all the time, and I’m a runner at heart, so it was nice to get outside the bubble and write something that can help people in a different way.

HR Gumbo – 3 Reasons to Join Your Local SHRM Chapter

This one is the oldest of the bunch, but I don’t think I ever gave it the link love that it deserved. If you’re not a member of your local SHRM chapter, you could be missing out on a lot. I’m neutral on the value of the national SHRM organization, but the local one has been indispensable for me. Be sure to tune in Wednesday when I unveil the new local chapter blog I’ve been working on!

If you missed the original Guest Post Blitz, feel free to check it out now. I was able to wrangle five other HR bloggers into letting me write for their blogs. Check back Wednesday for more fresh content!

Image courtesy of &_yo.

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