Project:Social-Round Two

So! If you haven’t heard about Project:Social yet, you might want to check out this announcement. It’s a fair summary of what we are trying to accomplish.

Back in late 2010, Victorio and I put together P:S to help connect those HR pros who wanted to know how to use social media with those who were already doing it well. We matched up three sets of mentors/mentees, and with little guidance sent them off into the wild blue yonder hand in hand. And you know what? It worked! (Here was a mid-stream review of the P:S happenings.)

We heard some great feedback from both sides of the relationship. Mentors said it was fun to connect with someone new/fresh and to get some ideas from someone just getting their feet wet. Mentees said it was comforting and reassuring to have someone there ready to answer questions and counter concerns at a moment’s notice. Win-win, right?

So Victorio and I wrapped up the first semester (although we encouraged the pairs to continue the relationship as long as it served them) and have moved into the second. We paired (okay, confession: Victorio is awesome at pairing people up, so I just got out of the way and let genius happen) up three more sets of people and will be doing more within the next month.

If you weren’t chosen, it’s not that we hate you. I promise. We just want to be able to offer as much support as possible to you and we are working a plan right now to make managing more mentor/mentee pairs a reality. We want it to be immensely useful for you. Seriously, if it’s not valuable, why do it at all?

Our three new pairs

Congratulations to the new pairs! You guys are in good hands.

  • Inshirah Muhamut and Joan Ginsberg
  • Pawan and Lance Haun
  • Thad Figlock and John Jorgenson

Our new LinkedIn group

We wanted a place where people could go to support each other, ask questions, and further the relationships in a safe, simple way. LinkedIn is the network of choice for business professionals, so that quickly won the vote. Here is the link to the Project:Social LinkedIn group. You’ll notice that it is a subgroup of the HRevolution LinkedIn group. That’s because they share much of the same vision. Both were created to facilitate connections between HR pros who not only love using social media to be better/smarter/faster, but also love to share and teach that to others. Go ahead and join both. The more you participate the more you get out of it!

Follow the action on Twitter

If you’re using Twitter, the relevant Project:Social hashtag is #projectsocial. If you’re not using it, why not sign up for P:S so we can help you learn how useful it is? :-)

If you want to sign up to participate in an upcoming session of Project Social, please fill out the survey at this link.

Hackathons and fun at work

What’s a hackathon, you may be wondering? Check out the video below for more on that and the importance of having fun at work. I’m currently reading the Levity Effect, and it talks all about how to lighten up and have some fun in the workplace. When I read an article last week about a hackathon, I thought it was a neat concept and one that might be worth pursuing.

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Anyone else think that’s a neat idea? I’d love to hear some feedback on why it would/wouldn’t work!

Top 5 Senior HR Competencies

Today I’m kicking off a video series on the Top Five Senior HR Competencies. I recently found a white paper that listed the top competencies for senior HR leaders, and I knew I wanted to delve into each of them and give a few thoughts on all five. Below you’ll find the intro video and links to the other 4 videos. Hope it’s beneficial to you!

  1. Effective Communication HR Competencies
  2. Strategic Thinking HR Competencies
  3. HR Knowledge HR Competencies
  4. Integrity and Ethics HR Competencies

Email subscribers click through to see the intro video below.

Nobscot HRevolution Scholarship (Free Air Fare!)

Our friends at Nobscot have put together a great scholarship contest to help HRevolution attendees pay for their travel expenses.

Click here to learn more about the scholarship.

Here’s the info to enter:

  1. Write a post on one of the three topics listed below.
  2. Post it on your own blog.*
  3. Include the required entry notification listed below on your blog post.
  4. Paste a copy of your post into the entry form.

Topics (choose one)

  1. In what ways can new technology help HR evolve to have an even greater impact on business success?
  2. How can using technology for exit interviews, new hire surveys or mentoring program administration make these HR processes/activities more successful than handling manually?
  3. Get Creative – Describe HR in the year 2050! (Fictional story format acceptable.)

Required entry notification (including links):
This is [author-name]’s entry into the 2011 Nobscot HR Evolution Scholarship Competition. Nobscot Corporation is an HR technology company specializing in key areas of employee retention including exit interviews, onboarding surveys, and corporate mentoring programs.

*Don’t have a blog? Email me your submission and we can get it on the HRevolution blog if it meets the contest requirements.

All entries will be reviewed by the Nobscot Corporation 2011 HREvolution Scholarship committee. Entries must be received by February 28, 2011. Up to 3 winners will be selected. Selection will be based on originality, intuitiveness and generally good thinking! Winners announced on March 11th, 2011.

Scholarship includes airfare up to $500 for travel within North America and up to $1000 for international travel.

HRCP-HR Certification Preparation

I have been talking about and sharing resources to help people with the HR certification exams for over a year now, and in that time I have officially promoted one specific tool to those looking for a fully-loaded study resource–HRCP. Recently I saw that they were updating their website and making some changes to their offerings to help people pass the PHR and SPHR exams. I reached out to them for some specifics that I will share below. Be sure to read to the end so you can find out how to win something special from HRCP!

Free/Neat Stuff

You can take advantage of several of the free tools they provide. With the high cost of certification in general, we all like a little free, right? :-) (FYI: if you want a discount on the HRCP materials, see this page for more info.)

  • Create a free account, take the free practice exam, Customers who have purchased the HRCP Program will have access to twice as many practice questions in the new Online Testing System!
  • Thinking about studying without the aid of a group? Check out the self study guide (PDF)
  • Not sure if you need a lot of time to study? Check out the study schedules they have put together for different test preparation styles.
  • They have a group on LinkedIn so you can share ideas and find others who are studying as well.
  • In case you’re wondering, their 2011 materials are already updated and shipping (that was fast!).
  • The newly upgraded testing system provides twice as many practice questions as part of the HRCP Program, totaling 800 questions (for the same price!).

Contest Info

Okay! So, HRCP is going to give away a free 100 question practice exam and I’m working with them to make this a recurring contest. For today, though, I have one of those exams to give away to someone. Interested?

Here’s how to enter: Simply leave a comment below telling how you plan to use your certification once you achieve it. Want a promotion? Think you can leverage it to get a new job? Maybe you’re just looking to gloat over your annoying coworkers? Let’s hear your reason for taking the PHR/SPHR exam.

Rules

  • Three sentence minimum, so be descriptive!
  • Contest ends 2/16 at midnight so get to work!
  • The winner will be randomly chosen from eligible entries using Random.org.