jessica lee writes.

New Orleans... Here I Come!

next week, i'll be in New Orleans for the first half of the week. i'm looking forward to the trip as it will be my first time visiting the town... but honestly, it's a little confusing to be heading down there at all.

first, for my non-HR and recruiting friends... i'll be in NOLA to attend the annual Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) conference. SHRM is a professional association devoted to HR people like me and it has more than 250,000 members... but that number doesn't include me. i actually opted out a while ago and stopped being a card carrying member. more on that later. their annual conference though... it's pretty much the biggest gathering of HR people anywhere. previous years conferences have had anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 attendees - scary, i know. it's a lot of HR people in one place.

so the confusing part about being in NOLA for this conference? i've been somewhat vocal about not being a SHRM fan. there are posts i've written... oldies, but goodies on the matter here, here and here. and yet i'll be jaunting down to NOLA because why? they invited me to attend. how bizarre is that?

the scoop... on wednesday, i'll be serving on a panel discussion moderated by SHRM's COO... HR Bloggers:  Who are these people and why should I care? interesting, kind of. maybe. we'll see! i'll be chatting it up with the blogosphere's other finest HR bloggers - Kris Dunn, Lance Haun and Laurie Ruettimann - and we'll be talking about how we've each used the web to add value to our organizations and practices. and the end goal? teach people how social media can have a positive impact on your organization and how you can get started.

the session will be streamed live - you'll be able to watch from here and/or Fistful of Talent as we'll embed and live stream the video broadcast... and you can be the judge of how it goes. and yes, i've thought about whether doing this makes me a hypocrite. maybe. but i'm a capitalist and this is about getting maximum exposure. i'll use the time to connect with folks, network and try to soak in some learning... and i'll also use the time to try to influence and help make HR cool-ish. maybe. wish me luck... and if you're going to be there in NOLA, see ya then.

Today, You're Being Redirected Elsewhere...

guess what? i spend a good deal of time writing in other places and for other spaces. so today, i'm pointing you in those directions as oddly enough, i have a few different articles and blog posts dropping in various venues today.

• over on Fistful of Talent, i'm talking about offer letters and why some candidates refuse to give their resignation until they receive an actual letter with an actual signature. sure, as a job seeker, you want to be prudent before you call it quits at your current gig... but i kinda feel like if as a recruiter i've done my job properly, you should trust me. i am never going to make an offer to someone unless i know there's a job for them... so you should take my word that i'm not going to screw you over.

• i was also asked recently to guest blog/guest write a few different things. over on MediaBistro, a site dedicated to folks in the magazines, television, film, radio, newspapers, book publishing, online media, advertising, PR, and design industries, i'm squatting on their Media Jobs Daily blog on the notion of "great places to work" and what that really means. i think i might drop into their jobs blog more regularly with guests posts on behalf of the day job since the folks who read that blog are the kinds i recruit and hire. it's good exposure.

• then... at the end of June, i'll be in New Orleans for SHRM's annual conference and speaking on a panel with Lance Haun, Laurie Ruettimann and my pal Kris Dunn on HR bloggers... and in anticipation of that session, i've popped up a  quick and dirty post on the SHRM conference blog on e-business cards.

• lastly, my friend Martin Burns of Zoominfo who writes the blog good to know, asked me to contribute to Zoominfo's monthly newsletter which goes out to about 15,000 recruiting and HR pros. what an honor! i partnered up with Chris Ferdinandi of the blog Renegade HR to write a tutorial on using Twitter for employment branding. and really, the guide can be used for anyone who is trying to use Twitter to market just about anything. it's the basics... we might have to do a follow up that goes into more detail.

so there you go, folks! hop on over to any or all four of those locales to get your fix of my writing today. i'll be back tomorrow with more here though. here's to a fabulous thursday!

Fall Over to Fistful of Talent for Falling Into HR.

one of the reasons i love Twitter so much is for the instant, succinct feedback you can receive from your followers. the other day, under the Fistful of Talent account, i asked the simple question, why is HR so easy to fall into? and it got me thinking quite a bit. check out the post on Fistful of Talent today on the issue... and thanks to tweeters who responded to the question including... as well as fellow HR blogger, Robert Smith of the Maine HR Cafe who shared his story of falling into HR on his blog.

Does a Recruiter or a Company Own Candidate Relationships? What About Your Twitter Followers?

when i was speaking at a recruiting/HR networking group last week, one of the things i asked the group to consider before jumping into social media (particularly to source and recruit candidates) is whether you do it as an individual, or more systematically as an organization. on the surface, it seems like a somewhat simple, albeit practical, question. do i create a personal twitter account with my name? or do i create one that incorporates my company's name?

jumping in as an organization and implementing a social recruiting road map as an organization is a bit tougher, particularly in large organizations. you may need to consider legal, marketing and scalability across geographic areas and/or business units. jumping in as an individual though? seemingly easy. just sign up! but this too poses a bit of a problem, especially when you think about the "portability" of candidates and communities. let's think this through...

someone asked in that same session how i thought people found me on twitter and why did i think they chose to follow me. i said that that if i had to guess...

• 40% follow me because of their interest in PR and/or my company specifically
• 20% follow me because they are DC based, and
• the other 40% or so follow me because they are recruiters or HR pros or otherwise somehow tied to the field (career advice, workplace issues, etc.)
  

and this is probably roughly how the subjects/topics of my tweets i put out break down as well. the 40% of my followers who are recruiters or HR pros will likely always follow me (please keep following me - forever?!)... but do you see where i'm going with this? what happens if i leave my company, or am no longer specifically recruiting for the PR industry? and what happens if i were to move away from DC? and this is precisely the issue for an organization to think through as they consider jumping into social media a bit further.

so here's a hypothetical question for you - if i were to leave my current company and go recruit somewhere else... do my twitter followers and the relationships i've developed with them belong to me? or my company? it may seem like a minor-ish etail but it actually feeds into a bigger picture issue. if you develop a community of candidates through social media... what happens to the community and all those relationships if you have to leave your market or industry? i think this is something we're going to have to begin grappling with in the near term if there aren't folks out there already dealing with it. my current thought process? let's use me as an example...

• i started using twitter on my own (okay, actually, Kris Dunn pushed me to do it...)
  
• i've developed a following through my own efforts on twitter
• people know me as the voice behind @jessica_lee and i use my own personal name - and i have developed my relationships through conversation (online AND offline both)
  
• i've introduced twitter and other social media tools for recruiting to the organization
• so if i leave? i take my "community" or simply my followers with me

but let's say instead my organization asked me to start a twitter account... or like present day, i've also created a twitter account spefically for my company and we used it as a recruiting tool? i think we might have to approach the situation a bit differently. i'm not sure my followers really are mine to keep.

the idea of "owing" a candidate relationship... i recognize that for 3rd party recruiters, maybe this is an issue that you've already had to deal with - so perhaps there some transferable lessons there for us and maybe it isn't any different from candidate relationships or communities pre-social recruiting... but it just seems that the ease of candidate or community portability, if you will, given the ability to rapidly or more effectively manage them through social media makes this issue a bit trickier.

i'll think this one through a bit more and flush it out for a Fistful of Talent posting. while i'm on this topic though? i'm not sure John Sumser buys into social recruiting as a mechanism for recruiters to create talent communities (or rather, people are improperly describing their "communities," slapping the label on to just about anything... tssk, tssssk)... and Josh Kahn  of Find + Attract flushes out the idea of a talent community manager.

i like all the thinking that's taking place on this idea. :)

Getting Called Out By Suzy Welch... Accountability in Social Media.

when the Oscars were on a few months ago, i had to stop looking at my Twitter stream because i was so thoroughly irritated with some of the things that people were saying about celebs as they were walking the red carpet. criticism for their outfits, makeup, hair, body shape and weight... it was too much for me to handle. i had to sit on my hands because i so wanted to reply back to some of the prolific Oscar-commenting tweeters i follow on how i thought it was completely outrageous that they'd criticize about celeb's looks when the reality was that they aren't so gorgeous or fit themselves. really. i mean, i've met some of my social media friends in real life. and i don't want to sound like a total b!tch, but, let's get real. who are we to criticize like that?

sure, there's the argument that because they are celebrities and have chosen to be in a career that puts them in the spotlight, they should have to deal with such scrutiny - but i don't like that argument. i think it's mean. and i think social media can make it too easy for us to criticize and say things in quite a bold fashion when i'm pretty sure that if we were face to face? we'd never imagine saying these out loud to those individuals. and don't get me wrong, i'm not completely innocent myself. i was reminded recently of this when Suzy Welch saw something i tweeted about her and called me out on it. oops. the tweet:

and then the conversation that followed.

the entire exchange with Suzy made me pause. i don't know if i ever thought that she, or Jack Welch, would have seen my tweet or would have addressed it for that matter because often with social media, you put stuff out there without any consequence. and that mentality? the lack of consequences are dangerous. it makes us irresponsible for our words. and what a good reminder for how disgusted i was on Oscar night with the junk i saw on Twitter.... because my sh!t talking about her byline really wasn't that different, right? some additional thoughts as a result of that little exchange:

• social media makes people accessible. this is good, and cool... but...
• social media creates faux intimacy. just because you can see and read about what i'm up to, or what a celeb is up to, doesn't mean you have a relationship. if you don't step away from your computer and take the "relationship" into the real world? it's not a real relationship. so, no, Suzy Welch and i are not all of a sudden friends now.
  
• social media makes people bold. hiding behind your computer, you can say anything. particularly if you're anonymous, you feel like you can say anything and go after anyone. but that's cowardly. the person you are going after and/or making fun of or criticizing? they're real. they're human. but because you can hide behind your computer and  you're not willing to filter, it also means that...
  
• social media, or the internet, could be the end of empathy. a close pal sent this letter to me a bit ago written by Jason Calacanis, former blogger and web pioneer, about living in "public" and how the internet could be causing the end of empathy. it's a really, really compelling letter, and i think anyone involved in social media must read this.

i'm willing to commit to conducting myself in a certain way online... and when i falter, i certainly hope people will continue to call me out. but are you willing to commit to the same? 

Goals vs. Commitments.

i saw an interesting "tweet" the other day from my friend Laurie Ruettimann who writes the blog Punk Rock HR and is attending the Spring ERE Expo in San Diego (non recruiting/HR peeps... it's a recruiting conference...) and it was in response to a presenter from Microsoft who discussed using the term "commitments" over "goals" for employees and their professional growth. and it made me pause... because I kind of think this is brilliant.

goals are transactional, for me at least. think about it. when you set a goal and you achieve it, then what? you move on. you set a new goal. commitments are lasting, and renewable. when you make a commitment, it's more deeply rooted. i think commitments are more than likely tied to your fundamental values, to your core, to principles. goals aren't crucial but for me, commitments are. when i give you my word, i keep it. and giving you my word means a lot. so between the two - what do you want your staff to make? and when it comes to your own growth, do goals really mean anything to you in the long run? what would making commitments look like instead?

when i think about goals that have been set for me in the past:

• reduce time to fill by 10% this year.
• implement quarterly people management reports for executive team that includes key metrics, staffing data, etc.
• evaluate and implement enhancements for applicant tracking system.

check, check, check. done. but those weren't lasting. if i were to sit down and make commitments though:

• deepen relationships with line staff (not just the managers!) in business units i support.
• invest more in my personal development and learn more about x, y, or z.
• work on developing junior HR staff or increase outreach to HR students to help them see how HR can be cool and sexy.

of course, these commitments are "bigger picture" and lack specific action items - and smaller goals could be set to support each of them. but making commitments over goals feels different - do you see it? i could find ways to align my commitments to the business too - but at the end of the day, the commitments tie back to my own core values and principles and because they are tied to my values, i'm more likely to act upon them and take them seriously. seriously.

Laurie writes a bit more about this matter this morning saying she believes that you are not paid to commit, and you should really think about the emotional capital you invest in your job... but if you look at your job as simply just a job - and not a career or an investment for your future... well, i guess goals instead of commitments would be just fine to you.

what say you?

4 Questions With... Me.

in this four question interview with William Tincup (of Starr Tincup) at the blog JPIE, i cover everything from being sexy to stalking to pay transparency (if you can believe it!). oh, and i talk a little bit about me blogging on HR matters and other HR bloggers too. find out my answers to these questions:

• What’s your personal favorite blog post and why?
• What’s your favorite personal online brand and why?
• Out of all the folks online, who would you like to meet in person and why?
• What’s your favorite social media activity and why?

as William Tincup would say, go peep it. i think i came off amazingly witty... and it's a nice follow up to the initial interview about my blogging story. and if you have dug around on the JPIE blog yet, it houses a great series highlighting HR and recruiting folks in the blogosphere - learn more about our community of talent there.

Twitter Analytics + Rambling w/ the Flip Cam.

i keep thinking about measuring social media for recruiting - because i don't think anyone does a fab job at it... but check out an interesting way my friend The Recruiter Guy discusses social network impact - measured in dollars raised for a cause.

something else... i forgot about an interesting twitter measurement tool, twitter-friends. (hat tip to John Sumser for reminding me about it...) pop your name into it and see what comes up. do you like what you see? sure, what your end game is for being involved in social media is important for how and why you use twitter and other social media tools... but it's good to check yourself ocassionally to even simply see if you're being a good citizen. i feel pretty good about what comes up - and here's part of what i see when i analyze myself via twitter-friends:

 


also... some ramblings on camera today. (click through to watch...). i'm discussing first dates and getting started in the blogosphere.

Women Are Mean - But That Doesn't Mean You Should Stay Away.

i'm slightly ashamed to admit it, but i've now watched several seasons of Bravo's reality show, the Real Housewives. it's entertaining, it's a little pitiful, and it's at times like watching a train wreck bound to happen... mouth open, jaw to the floor, eyes wide open. this particular episode i was watching, these ladies were scheming to take each other down through games and shame. you could see, ever so clearly, that the impetus of the game was the insecurity of one particular woman who worried she was no longer the prettiest of the crew. how awful, right? and it cemented something i hate to admit but that there's some truth to: girls and women are mean to one another. grown women included. what's so wrong with us?

i've been thinking about this issue - women and their relationships with one another. the cat fights, and the cattiness, and the inability to get along - ever since reading a posting from the Nobscot blog written by their CEO, Beth Carvin. she had written something in response to a posting that Penelope Trunk had written about career advice for women. Beth wrote:

"In a recent post, [Penelope] lambastes five career tips often given to women in the workplace. Along with ignoring the Best Companies for Women lists, she also suggests that women should avoid women-only networking groups. She states two reasons: women don't have as many connections as men and women are not supportive of other women."

from Penelope's blog, she wrote:

"...it’s clear that women are not particularly supportive of each other. everyone is competitive, but there are more problems between two women than between two men or between a man and a woman. I would like to tell you that this is outdated research and that with the post-feminist generation women are not so back-stabbing to each other. But it’s not true. Anne Manci‘s research at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater finds that the culture in the top ranks is still disturbingly slanted toward women taking down the best women."

interesting advice and take on the world - a little bit off though in my humble opinion. like Beth, i also thought Penelope was wrong. who else but other women understand you or me better than anyone else? i don't think we should limit ourselves to just women's-only networking groups, we should network where we can and with everyone who we think it makes sense to network with... but i think we need each other. sure, women can be competitive, and sometimes we aren't supportive of one another... but my observation has been that generally, women who opt out of the tribe of women, and women who say other women are not as supportive, it's usually because they are pretty insecure and can't develop meaningful relationships because of their insecurity and fear of competition... and i think this applies to their relationships both professional and personal. but not all women roll this way. there are some lovely lovelies who have been the greatest source of support in my life - and i'm betting you know many too. 

it's precisely the kind of advice that Penelope gives that further drives a wedge between our tribe. stay away from each other because we backstab! we're competitive so don't come near each other! that's the wrong call to action. some of us are prettier, some of us are smarter, some of you are taller, some of you are funnier. not all men or women are created equal, and that simply is what it is. but there's room to learn from one another, and support each other because only we know what it's like to be us. and besides, isn't competition healthy? i have an innate drive to do my best, but put me next to someone else who is also great? and i'm going to try to outdo them just because - but this doesn't have to be cruel and backbiting.

I'd Rather You Not Be Color Blind. Really.

i've heard it a few different places recently, the concept of being color blind. it came up with a friend when talking about interracial dating - she said she doesn't see race at all when she's looking at potential suitors. it came up in an Evil HR Lady blog posting about what to teach children when they ask about skin color. and i've been hearing it in general race commentary with Obama taking office. it seems a lot of folks are proudly color blind, or want to move in that direction. and i think it sounds nice... but i don't know if being color blind is quite right, or good.

before i get any further, i've gotta say this. it's been cool seeing some of my fellow HR bloggers tackling the issue of race lately. and i've enjoyed having conversations about race with friends too. i recognize that it's not easy, and it's not always comfortable... but these are important conversations to have. so this alone makes me happy. very.

back to being color blind though... here's what i worry - if you're color blind, doesn't that diminish what millions of people of color have been through in the past, or what they are going through currently? if you don't see color, and you see everyone as being the same and completely equal, it almost feels like it implies that race doesn't matter anymore for you, when it still does. race still affects how people get to where they today. it has an impact on how far they may get in the future. it isn't a completely equal playing field, yet.

pointing out the differences in our skin color and our cultures or our races doesn't make a person racist... we are different from one another, and we should celebrate that (as cliche as that sounds...). but when one makes assumptions about an individual because of their on the race, then it's clearly something else. something to really worry about.

just an acknowledgment. that's all. no need to dwell, no need to linger on it. but let's not forget where we've been.

You're Just Another Voice in the Blogosphere. And It's Too Loud.

the blogosphere over saturated. most people write junk, or they write in a junky way. and when i say "most people"? that could very well include me. i question myself before every post goes live, and then still after it's live.

before re-entering the blogging world last year, i thought about blogging on one of the many community sites that are out there to help build my audience and give me more exposure. but i realized that with many, if not all, of the groups out there, there are hundreds or thousands of voices on their respective sites - and not all good or thoughtful or provoking - and i would be just be another voice. sure, the potential exists for my lovely voice to rise above the others... but is that possible without bringing myself down in the process? because if there's little "quality control" over who gets in (so to speak) with your community, that means anyone and everyone can get in - and therefore, a lot of crap and junk will get in. and even if you find a way to become *outstanding* and rise above the rest, i'm not sure if i'd really want the taint of being affiliated with all of the others when so much of it is junk. i sound rather snobby when i say this, i know. i'm not for everyone, and not all of y'all are for me. but it's just that i've come to the conclusion that my blog and online presence is my brand so i've gotta be prudent about who i affiliate with. 

sure, for some, being part of a community means you can build a quicker audience. it's actually easy in the bloggy world to become a bloggy star and build up your audience if you choose the sucker's way of rising to the top. have a listen to this podcast with the gillmor gang that a confidante of mine recently exposed me to. in particular it was this podcast on the death of the blogosphere. fast forward to the 27 minute mark and you too become a blogging star! it's easy. (and if you are not aware of the gillmor gang, as i wasn't... it's essentially tech + social media's royalty - the "thought leaders" of that world.)

after listening to that podcast, i couldn't get their voices out of my head - and i hope the same thing happens to you too. think about the discussion on how the blogging world originally started - intelligent people had voices that weren’t being heard. they had something to say that was profoundly different and much more important than what was being said in the mainstream media - and so it created a beautiful counter balance. that made me pause. how about you? the blogopshere is full of voices now - and collectively, the voices are loud... but what is anyone really saying? are there profoundly different discussions really taking place anymore? and the loudest voices are popular for all the wrong reasons, it seems. many aren't producing quality content or original thoughts... and those who are? well, you get drowned out with all the other noise. and that's maddening, isn't it?  

listen to the whole of the podcast if you can. it was almost enough to make me want to stop blogging altogether. i can't decide what makes sense for me just yet... in the meantime, while i figure out what to do with this bloggy... well, i'll stay solo and i won't jump into any 'ole blogging pool where the voices aren't strong, or where simply put, i think the writing is crap. i'm going to affix myself to people who i think are original. and different. and authentic. and i'm going to stick with them. and as for this blog, i'm going to continue being my authentic self. i'll strive for being profoundly different. and i won't stoop low and piss on anyone's leg or kick anyone in the nuts just to get you here and reading - and i hope you won't do that either. be choosy about where you gather and where you share yourself. and remember how blogging got started. say things that are profoundly different. happy blogging. 

With Personal & Employment Brands, the More the Merrier!

i've been thinking about blogging and personal brands a bit lately. and coincidentally, for some reason, i've had the question asked of me a few times recently what does my company think of me and my blogging. a few thoughts on this: 

1. my manager calls me "the carrie bradshaw of HR." i'll consider it a compliment. if only i had her wardrobe though...
   
2. my blogging activities have brought me closer to my firm's online communications and social media practice group, also making me a bit more credible in their eyes when it comes to recruiting for their team - i live in the world they teach our clients about. i "get" what they (love to) do and essentially, i'm one of them. i've also become part of our firm's social media team making me the only non-client interfacing/non-billable staff member on the group... 
   
3. i'm a bit of a risk for the company. on Fistful of Talent, eveything i write goes out with the editor's note of... Jessica Lee is an Employment Manager for... the blog postings come up with all of the media monitoring that's done for the firm making me even further part of the brand. what i say gets tied back to the firm even despite any disclaimers out there of what i write being my opinion and not theirs. it's difficult to separate me from the firm... so what i write could harm (but hopefully, it will always help) the firm's brand and reputuation. it takes trust to let an employee blog under the name of the organization.

for item number three - it's a blessing and a curse for the firm from a recruiting standpoint, right? if people want to know who to talk to about working for the firm, they can easily find me via a Google search. there's a tangible face to the company and its recruiting function. we're not a monolith or a black hole that you send your resume to, never to be heard from again. and when people want to know how to break into PR or if they are interested in my firm in particular, they get in touch with me. i hear from college students or professionals frequently who find me online - and that's certainly a bonus for the organization. but what happens if i were to leave the firm? Jeremiah Owyang wrote recently about How Companies Respond to the Risks of Personal Brands and identified three risks:

• risk one: the personal brand is a cost to the company 
• risk two: the now popular employee is likely to get poached 
• risk three: employee exits leaving a chasm to fill 

risks two and three of Jeremiah's goes back to point three of mine above... because what happens if a recruiter with a strong personal brand leaves an organization? let's say the recruiter has candidates or prospects who follow them online, or continually is building relationships with such folks because of their personal brand. or let's say there are candidates who have simply had positive experiences with a specific recruiter and therefore have become loyal to their brand, rather than to the larger employment brand of the organization. potentially, this means that recruiters with personal brands could take candidates with them wherever they go, regardless of who they are working for.... which could be troublesome for an organization. yet meanwhile, it's leverage for a recruiter, right? recruiters in the 3rd party space probably have this down pat already, and folks who've recruited in a geographic area or industry long enough probably already have their followings too... but for us corporate types, or for the up and coming recruiter, using the web to build your personal brand and candidate following is now easier than ever - and think about the power of that proposition if you have to market yourself as a candidate. 

for companies though, this definitely has the potential to be troublesome... so what are some lessons to be learned here? for one, companies should think more broadly about their employment brands. if you only have one recruiter who's dabbling in social media? get more folks involved. and with your employment branding? incorporate and institutionalize social media and again, encourage more of your recruiting and HR staff to get involved. i think, the more the merrier. but what else should folks managing a recruiting function think about? 

So You Want Some Blog Love, Eh?

over at Fistful of Talent, we put out our second installment of the The Talent Management Blog Power Rankings 2.0 [Sponsored by FOT and the HR Capitalist]. i have really loved seeing the appreciation and joy folks have shown for being mentioned or voted into the top 25. the pleasure is ours - to be part of the same community is really neat. one of the things we've seen happen after the rankings are comments from folks who didn't make the list about not making the list, or asking how to be considered in the rankings.

sorry to be the queen of mean on this one... but there's my take. we had 115 blogs on our "blogroll" for the rankings this time around. any of the pollsters can add to the blogroll at any time, and any of us can "write in" a blog if they'd like. if you weren’t voted on, if you didn’t make the top 25 though… is it because we just don’t know about you? sure, it's a fair enough question. the blogosphere is big. HUGE. so what to do?

to borrow from Penelope Trunk who provides a guide to blogging on her site, “blogging is conversation, and it is much more fun if you are part of it, instead of just talking at people.” so that means you've got to:

• get engaged.
• be an active part of the community, and join in on the conversation.
• but listen. listening to others is important.

there are a lot of tips out there for how to grow your blog and gain an audience. you can use SEO, and other tools/technologies that i don’t really understand… but i dunno if all that jazz is going to help if you aren’t part of a community, the community rather. it takes a village. another Penelope tip: write at the very edge of that topic. if you write in the center, that’s where everyone else is and it will be hard to present something that is unique.

so if you wanna be noticed? get in the game. be part of the conversation. i've discovered fantastic new bloggers who have visited FOT and joined in on the conversation there... so come, talk to us. tell us what's on your mind. you don't have to agree with what we write, but start a conversation, will ya? because if the first time we've heard from you is an email saying you would like to have your blog considered... eh, kind of a turn off. at least for me that, is. i'm just one of the pollsters after all... so you're lucky it's not all up to me.

happy blogging!

The Thanksgiving HR Carnival is UP!

the HR carnival is up! for those not in the HR/recruiting blogosphere... the HR carnival is a monthly showcase of blogs and postings, all things HR and talent management. who hosts the carnival rotates each month and pre-Thanksgiving, it is Rowan Manahan who is based in Dublin and writes the blog Fortify Your Oasis. i'm appreciative of the love Rowan showed to me highlighting a post i did over at Fistful of Talent recently on exit interviews... or as he put it, a mittful of perspective. nice. i'm appreciative for the inclusion. big ups to two of my other Fistful of Talent colleagues who also made the cut, Kelly Dingee and Paul Hebert. i'm so proud to be part of such a dynamic, talented group with FOT. anyhoo, check out the carnival and check out Rowan's blog while you're at it.

FOT Talent Management Blog Power Rankings - We're At It Again.

on Fistful of Talent, the other bloggy i write for, we'll be soon unveiling the second go-round of our talent management blog power rankings... and i'm happy to be shepherding the rating of blogs through the process this go-round! wooo! just some thoughts about my personal process of ranking blogs:

• i voted, for the most part, with my heart. sure, you could use the analytics in your google reader like some of my colleagues did, but i have a good handful of blogs in my reader and just because i read a blog frequently, that doesn't seem to reflect who i like. there are some folks whose writing style, sense of humor, frequency of posting, depth of compelling content just speak much more loudly to me... and so i ranked them higher. it was interesting to hear how some of my colleagues ranked blogs though - some of us are working with our hearts, and others are a bit more rational in their rankings using cold, hard facts. it takes all kinds, i suppose.
  
• it seems that finally having now met a few recruiting or HR bloggers, being able to put a face to their names and blog makes a bit of a difference in my rankings. is that a little unfair? perhaps... but that's why there are ten of us ranking versus just me... but yeah - seeing and knowing the personality behind a blog has impacted me a bit; this goes back to voting with my "heart," right? i had to double check our methodology before i started writing this... what if i were going against out methodology? but it seems i found a loophole... so yay for me!
  
• my favorites last time weren't necessarily the same favorites this time around... new blogs pop up here and there, some bloggers fall off the face of the earth, others up their writing frequency or add new contributors to their blog or just resurface after a break... it's nice to see diversity in the rankings though. some veterans/pros will probably always rank fairly well, but there's always room for newbies and i have liked seeing new folks on the scene who are already receiving some love for the immediate impact they've been able to make.

rankings should be unveiled next week. the cards will fall however they'll fall (is that the saying?) but regardless, i've gotta say that there are some talented bloggers/writers in the talent management space - and i'm happy to be part of that community. the time and energy they devote to blogging is totally inspiring - so thanks to all for being there for me. you make me want to do more and do better.

Behold the Power of Social Media.

okay, so i'm a little behind the times when it comes to technology, and i'll lump into that big category social media too. yes, i'm totally late to the game - i know this! but here's a little bitty on the power of social media: if you have ever thought that there aren't many others like you who get it, whatever that "it" might be for you, you'll find them. and you can use social media to do it. but you already knew this, didn't ya?

the other day, i had coffee with the HR Bartender as she was in town for some SHRM meetings... sure, i've been reading her blog and i follow her on Twitter, but i never would have known that she'd be in the DC area had we not been connected on Twitter. so upon seeing that she'd be in town? i immediately contacted her and said i'd like to have coffee. three direct messages and one week later, we were having some coffee. upon meeting Sharlyn, i immediately realized that she gets "it." and my "it" in this case, is that HR too can be cool and sexy. she isn't another one of those fuddy-duddy HR ladies. she's strategic, she's got common-sense, she isn't in the HR game just because it's a job to her - she loves it. she's passionate about it. and she wants to make a difference. and the most exciting part to me? the kind of difference she wants to make. she wants to effectuate change and influence SHRM. how awesome is that? and i think she has the potential. more on that later.

back to the power of social media - you see, i don't meet people like Sharlyn every day. somehow though, through the magic of social media, you can surround yourself with all the like-minded folks out there you choose, folks who perhaps you didn't realize existed. but they are out there. Fistful of Talent has helped do this for me too - my colleagues there are full of great ideas, inspiring, smart... and great examples of great HR and recruiting pros. so, i'm learning! more and more, i'm realizing that there are many, many more like me. and how nice is that? (okay, maybe it's a little scary - more people like me? lol.) but to not feel alone, to not feel so crazy, to not feel like a snob in my thinking or desire for HR to be something so much better than it is now... it's nice to know you're out there.

thanks to Sharlyn, all of a sudden i also have a renewed my interest in SHRM and possibly getting involved locally. maybe i don't like how the organization operates now - but on a local level, maybe i can get involved and start influencing incrementally. and maybe there's opportunity to evangelize (to use the term that i love hearing cloud recruiting's michael marlatt use) on the power of social media for HR and recruiting pros who are in the DC metro area? hmmm. that's a nice thought.

so there you have it. behold, the power of social media. and stay tuned... because also thanks to Twitter, other crazy things are happening. it's too soon for me to write about it, but something crazy has been stirring in my life. and while i'm talking about Twitter, here's someone i'm getting to know in Twitterland: the real shaq! seriously! check out the NY Times article about how and why he decided to jump into tweeting. fascinating.

I'm Not a Thought Leader. I'm a Practitioner, and I Do.

yesterday in the office, we spent some time talking with staff and doing a training on managing their personal online reputations. there's a lot of good stuff out there on the web already on how to do this including this and this and this. AdWeek also ran a good column recently on how starting a blog could save your career, which fits in nicely with the theme of managing your online reputation. of the ten reasons listed for why a blog is good for your career, i liked the following:

[ 4. You'll establish yourself, prove yourself and position yourself within the community.

5. You may become a titan. Take David Armano, for example. His blog, Logic + Emotion, is a must read. Before, he was a nobody (to me, that is). Perhaps crayon will be able to afford him one day...

6. You could become the go-to resource for all things new, emerging and/or mystifying. ]

you could say that with me starting up my own blog independent of Fistful of Talent that i'm working on building my reputation or brand... sure. it's a little weird to think about myself as a brand though - i just want an outlet for my thoughts and to be part of a community. my reputation or brand, i hope, is based on the work i do and the results i create. but all this talk of personal brands got me thinking... it's easier now more than ever to create an identity/persona/brand because of the online space. really - you too can become a thought leader! all you have to do is think, and write, and put it out there, build relationships, network, and... voila. you will have created some big online footprints and a presence to boost your brand. but what if what you create isn't real or there isn't much depth behind it? what if you're all talk and you don't have the goods to back it up? and then what happens when reality comes crashing into what you've created for your online persona? does that make sense? i hope with where i'm going, i'm not getting onto a soapbox with this one... i feel a rant coming on though.

it struck me recently when someone asked me how things were going with Fistful of Talent... could that turn into a full-time gig? would i want to get involved in further evangelizing for HR/recruiting in the online world/social media and abandon what i do during the day? they were harmless enough questions, but my reaction was slightly visceral. i'm a practitioner, i blurted out. for the time being, i have no desire to stop "doing" HR and recruiting and just talk about it... what kind of credibility would i have if i weren't in the trenches and just wrote/talked about it? i don't want to be too out of touch by not doing and practicing what i write about. it could also an age thing - i'm eight years into the game but still feel like i have lots to learn and want to be fully immersed in it all. plus, i'm still very new to the recruiting/HR blog + social media scene. i'm super proud of what we're doing on the other bloggy and invested in really making that a top-shelf brand... but i feel like we're just scratching the surface of that and it's much too early to bank on my success as a so-called thought leader there and with that alone. but the truth of the matter is, there are "thought leaders" out there who aren't or haven't ever done much "doing" and just do a lot of talking instead... and i just don't get how they've become big or why others have so much love for them. are our expectations that low?

i think it's time we all start expecting more.

HR and recruiting isn't rocket science, i know this. you don't have to be a genius who is doing it daily to talk about it - a lot of it is common sense and good instincts, actually. but i don't want to ever preach, and advise, and recommend when i'm not doing it anymore. maybe when i'm old and gray, i can preach without practicing... but for now, i'm going to keep doing, and being. and i think you should expect this from your recruiting and HR thought leaders too.

******

a post-script... some interesting stuff that i came across after writing this little bitty but before publishing it... there's a good dialogue happening on choosing your recruiting idols wisely, the rise of recruiting celebrities, and it took me three-times to read and get-it, but how speaking in tongues relates to the recruiting blogosphere... refreshing thoughts in those three posts. it makes me think that perhaps i'm not totally nuts when i say i don't get why some folks out there have become so popular in the blogosphere. maybe not everyone's expectations are so low...

Tag, I'm It.

okay... so, snarky, cynical me doesn't really want to participate in playing tag... but the HR Bartender, Sharlyn Lauby doesn't strike me as an idiot, or crazy. in fact, i think my first exposure to her was when i had posted something over at Fistful of Talent about HR not being sexy and SHRM being an evil contributor to our decline... her response? basically, she said to stop complaining and do something about it. she was more diplomatic in how she said it though, of course. i found that alone to be quite classy. i also like her blog and think it's one to watch. so... because she's not a wench, i'll play along nicely.

1. link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
2. share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
3. tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
4. let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or twitter.

here are my seven facts:

1. my first job was at mcdonald's. i progressed from cashier, to drive thru, to birthday party queen in a matter of... five weeks. in the latter gig, i hosted kiddy b-day parties in the playland of our location. now that, was fun. kind of.

2. from where i'm sitting, i can see about 50 pairs of shoes scattered about my living room. they are all mine, and there are more, but these are just the ones visible to me from my perch.
3. i fall into crushes with fellers here and there, but at the moment, i'm in the midst of one major crush that feels different. and i'm excited. ask me next month how it's going.
4. as high maintenance as people believe me to be, i actually like camping. it's nice to get out of the city once in a while.
5. i only signed up for facebook in march or april of this year... i'm still a newbie! and yep, i'm actually gen Y, a digital native. i just held out... look at me now though.
6. when walking in a group or in a pair, i have to walk on the right hand side. i feel uncomfortable on the left. and i'm serious about this.
7. not everyone believes me... but i'm registered as a republican.

so there you have it. here are my seven i'm tagging, although if you choose not to continue it, i'll forgive you. but come on! i did it! snarky me? you can do it too.

1. suann song - simplesong

2. william uranga - talent alchemy

3. jennifer mcclure - cincy recruiter

4. mark stelzner - inflexion advisors

5. james walker - pr prescriptions

6. amybeth hale- research goddess

7. gordon lokenberg - w3 recruitment