The Stars in New York

Quick one for a Friday (and because the only thing between me and some Dunkin' coffee is posting this recap).

Yesterday I had the chance to attend an event called the 'Position Accomplished Summit' hosted by The Ladders in New York City. It was fun, informative, and really an interesting and challenging day.  And don't get me started about the 'challenging' day of travel - Amtrak for seven hours - fun!

After the conclusion of the event, the folks at the Ladders were nice enough to let me conduct the HR Happy Hour show from one of their conference rooms, where a truly super-star panel of HR and Recruiting leaders joined myself and Shauna Moerke to talk about recruiting, marketing, job boards, LinkedIn, erectile dysfunction pharmaceuticals, prison culture, and all kinds of crazy stuff.

People you will hear on the playback:

Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee, John Sumser, Gerry Crispin, Kevin Wheeler, Jim Stroud, Mark Stelzner, David Manaster, Josh LeTourneau, Jason Boltax, Kelly Dingee, and hopefully no one else that I forgot to mention.

Listen to the archive on the show page here, or using the widget player below:

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We talked quite a bit about the state of the industry, and very frankly and openly about The Ladders, their business model and their controversial TV ads. The folks from the Ladders helped immeasurably in allowing the show to go on, and were invited to participate and decided to decline to allow us to have our conversations. I am optimistic that they will appear on a future show.

Many thanks to the great panel of stars that took an hour at the end of a long day to join the show.

Now I can hit the NYC streets to find some coffee!

Tonight - HR and Collaboration

Tonight on the HR Happy Hour show the topic is ‘HR and Collaboration’.

You can listen starting at 8PM ET from the show page, using the widget player below,  or by calling in on the listener line - 646-378-1086.

Who Won't be on the HR Happy Hour Show Tonight

Tonight on the HR Happy Hour show it is time for 'Mystery HR Theater'. I know who the guest is. Shauna, the HR Minion, knows who the guest is, and the guest (hopefully) knows when to call in.

But that's it.  We have not let the cat out of the bag, so you will have to tune in tonight at 8PM EDT, and play 'guess the guest' or '20 questions' until we reveal our secret guest's identity - you can call in on 646-378-1086 to join the shenanigans.

But in the spirit of good fun Shauna challenged the Twitterverse to take a guess at the identity of tonight's secret guest.  So far, no one has got it right, but there were some great guesses, and for those who did guess, I offer some explanations as to why they were off the mark.

Lindsay Lohan - Lindsay is a big star. Still.  But probably not for too much longer.  Pretty soon I bet weNot on the show will see her on 'Celebrity Rehab' and after that I think we have a shot at landing her on the HR Happy Hour.  But she did not use her one call from jail to call us, so will not be on the show tonight.

Oates - I kind of think Oates would make a good guest.  We could do 20 minutes on mullet and moustache theory and practice alone.  And then there is the whole 'You look like Bababooey' angle.

Hall -  More interesting than Oates.  Of the duo, the one that could have made it as a solo artist. Also has a strange obsession with killing deer.  Not just the odd hunting trip to bag a 10-point buck, but killing all deer.  Something about lyme disease.  Would make for a good interview.

Sarah Palin - She has plenty to say for sure.  It is arguable how much of it makes sense. I did pitch her people to have her come on the show but I was refudiated. 

Ben Eubanks  - Such an elusive guy.  Has appeared on the show before (grudgingly).  Since we know he is getting ready for some big and exciting things very soon, he is not going to appear tonight.

Bob Hope - Would be an awesome booking. Forty years ago.

Rod Stewart - Has an advantage over Bob Hope in that he is currently alive. Also presents a great opportunity to talk about music, models, and mayhem of life as a rock star. Dang, now I really wish we could book Rod Stewart.

LeBron - Certainly in need of some positive publicity.  But, has so much money, power, and fame that heNot on the show can give a collective eff you to an entire city and not sweat it at all. If LeBron did come on I think I would ask him about NBA players and tattoos. I think every NBA media guide needs to have a 'player tattoo directory' to help recognize and understand all the ink.

In no particular order we also had guesses of Al Gore, Toby from 'The Office', HR Fishbowl, Steve Forbes, and Jessica Alba. OK, I added the Jessica Alba guess.

So who will it be?  Who is the 'Mystery HR Guest?'

You will have to tune in tonight at 8PM EDT to find out!

Going Small

Tonight at 8PM EDT on the HR Happy Hour show, we are talking 'HR On Your Own', a show about the HR function, and the HR professional in a small business environment.

Lots of great HR people are out there, on there own as the sole HR professional in an organization, or as a part of a very small team.  We will talk to some of those people tonight, people like Franny Oxford, Paul Smith, and Kimberly Roden, and hopefully a more people will call in to share their stories as HR lone warriors.

Listen in tonight on the caller/listener line 646-367-1086 or using the player below, or on the HR Happy Hour show page.

When we announced the show topic and guests, I did see quite a few messages from folks, mostly along the lines of 'Yep, I have been there', and 'That is what I live every day', and 'I'll never go back to a giant company again.'

Small is the new big, in business and in life.  Yesterday in the NBA, longtime coach Don Nelson broke the record for most career coaching wins, primarily by implementing a 'small ball' strategy.  The theory is in a fast-paced and unpredictable game like basketball, smaller, quicker, more agile players would have an advantage of seeming bigger and stronger teams.

Sounds quite a bit like the modern business world as well.  Speed, agility, ability to adapt (the capabilities of many small firms), may well win the day over many of their large, plodding, established competitors.

And these nimble small companies often have a sole 'HR hero' in the trenches, and those are the people we will be talking about tonight.

I hope you can join us.

How to Break in to HR

Tonight at 8PM EST on the HR Happy Hour show we will be talking about 'Breaking in to HR'.

The show was originally intended to be broadcast live from my HR Technology Class at RIT, but we had some technical issues could not be overcome.

But the intent and purpose of the show remain the same, to give some of my students, HR students at large, and truly any professionals looking to 'break' in to Human Resources some insights, tips, and recommendations on how they might get their start in HR.

What organizations, networks, courses of study, certifications and strategies are the most beneficial for someone that aspires to an HR career?

We will see what advice our guest,  listeners, and supporters, most of which are smart, experienced HR, Recruiting, or Talent pros can share with students, the ones that hopefully represent the future of the HR profession (and will take care of us when we are old and drooling on ourselves).

Now don't be a wise guy and recommend something like 'choose another field' or 'go learn a real trade like plumbing or pipefitting'.  While that may be sound advice, it will make for a short (and boring) show.

Joining Shauna and I on the show will be Robin Schooling, Rich DeMatteo, and Jennifer McClure (and hopefully you too).

Maybe we can kick off some ideas here in the comments - What advice do you have for someone trying to 'Break in to HR'?

I hope you can join us tonight at 8PM EST - Call in on 646-378-1086.