HR Technology Conference - Take Your Chances

Finally made it home from the HR Technology Conference in Chicago and still trying to process all the information from meeting vendors, attending sessions, and talking to old and new friends.

And recovering from Thursday night's Epic HR Happy Hour show.

One thing I noticed as I walked the massive Expo hall that in the Taleo booth (and I suspect a few others), there was a giant prize wheel that prospects, customers, or random passers-by could spin for the chance to win items like Subway gift cards, Amazon.com credits, or free stays at a popular resort.

You did have to get your badge scanned and listen to the 10 minute overview of Taleo 10 for the chance to spin the  wheel. It did seem a bit too 'time share presentation-ish' for me, but I get the need for vendors to capture prospect information at the show.

After the demo I attended was completed, and one lucky attendee spun the prize wheel, (I think he won a free Quiznos Sub), I thought a more fun 'prize wheel' would have all the possible outcomes of a major talent management implementation project.

Maybe the wheel would look something like this:

Technology projects, especially large complex ones, are tricky undertakings.  So many things are needed to hit the sweet spot on the wheel, and achieve enduring organizational transformation.  Correct understanding of the important business issues, selection of the correct tool to address these problems, effective project management, executive support, a vendor not only committed to customer success, but also one with a sound and perhaps even visionary product strategy, and managers and users that see the value the real 'What is in this for me' of the solution.

Missing any one of these key factors might be enough to scupper the project.  But without them, your chance for success are dicey at best, and indeed you are just spinning the wheel of technology fortune and you may not even realize it.

Getting your HR friends on Twitter? Start Here

The hardest part of getting started on Twitter is figuring out who to follow.  If you are an HR professional, HR student, or job seeker, you will only get so far following Oprah or Ashton or Shaquille.

Not very far actually.

Ashton can't help you with the latest developments in E-Verify.

Shaq is not going to offer to critique your cover letter.

No to get any value at all from Twitter you need to find and follow 'real' HR professionals, recruiters, companies, bloggers, the kind of people you can learn from, engage with, and share your expertise with.

So how do you go about that? Well, a new service called TweepML has made the process of sharing lists of Twitter users to follow much easier. 

Sign up for TweepML, create or upload a list of Twitter names that you want to put on a 'recommended follow' list, then share the list via a link, email, or an embeddable button or widget.

I even did the hard work for you, I created two TweepML lists (since the service limits lists to 100 Tweeps) of HR and Recruiting Twitter folk that I personally follow and recommend.

Click on the links below and you will be taken to the TweepML site where you can easily follow all the names on the list (or just the ones you are interested in) by supplying your Twitter name and password.

HR and Recruiting Peeps - Part 1

HR and Recruiting Peeps - Part 2

Totally easy right? Just think about when you first signed up for Twitter. What if you were given a list of 200 awesome and relevant accounts to follow from Day 1?

Let me know what you think of TweepML, and of the lists themselves.  I can always start list number three with your suggestions.

Enjoy!

Update on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 9:51PM by Steve

The problem with making these kinds of lists, whether great blogs, Twitter users, or anything else is that no matter how long the list, some great people get left out, either through oversight, error, or system limitations.  I want to mention some folks here that absolutely should have been included on the above lists, and I apologize for that.

JennyDeVaughn - A must follow in the recruiting and social media space

sexythinker - Amanda Hite, the founder and CEO of Talent Revolution, and someone that HR and Recruiting pros have to follow, I think

HR Happy Hour - The Job Seeker's Show

I have been trying to keep all the HR Happy Hour show content over on the new HR Happy Hour site - www.hrhappyhour.net, but since this week's show is pretty important to me, I thought I would post about the show on both sites.

Episode 10 - The Job Seeker's Show - September 18, 2009 8PM EDT

The show is back to our 'regular' time slot this Friday night, September 18, 2009 at 8PM EDT.

Episode 10 - The Job Seeker's Show

Shauna Moerke, the HR Minion, and I will welcome a fantastic panel of guests from the Recruiting and HR world to share insights, give advice, and highlight available resources for the job seeker. We will talk about strategy, use of social media, resumes, and anything else on your mind.

The call in number is 646-378-1086 and Press '1' on your phone to come on the show.

Scheduled to appear this week:

Jennifer McClure - Twitter -CincyRecruiter, and blog Cincy Recruiter's World

Paul DeBettignies - Twitter - MNHeadhunter - and blog MNHeadhunter

Robin Eads - Twitter - imjustagoyle - and blog imjustagoyle

April Dowling - Twitter - adowling - and blog PseudoHR

Deirdre Honner - Twitter - thehrmaven - and blog HR Maven (does everyone on this show have a superhero alias?)

I hope you can tune in and pass along the show information to anyone you know on the job market that could use some great advice. 

Too much information?

I read an excellent post on the Savage Minds blog about college students and the need many of them feel to offer explanations or excuses when they know they have turned in substandard work.  That professor's take was essentially, 'Save the trouble of the explanation, don't admit the work is under par before I have had a chance to look at it, and if it is crap work, get over it and do what it takes to improve for the next assignment'.Flickr - The Kozy Shack

I think that is good advice and wonder if it applies to managers as well. 

As a manager when an employee is late for work, makes some careless mistakes, or otherwise is not really producing to their 'normal' or expected levels, how much do you really want of the backstory?

How much of 'My dog is sick', 'My daughter has a loser boyfriend' or 'I stayed up all night playing World of Warcraft' do you want to hear?

Or would you prefer they just shut up, do their job, and leave the drama for their mama?

News from the HR Blogosphere

Some great Human Resources Bloggers have recently moved their blogs, and some others have jumped into the HR blogosphere for the first time.

There were a few of these this week, so I thought it good to summarize them here:

Blogs that moved

Human RaceHorses - Michael VanDervort's blog is now at www.thehumanracehorses.com, and in addition to a new web address, has a great new look.  Michael does a great job with the HR and Social Media space, and his blog is a must read.

PsuedoHR - April Dowling's blog has a new look and a new home, at www.pseudohr.com and I love her tag line 'Because HR can fake it too'. April also was a great sport and hosted a post from one of my students, Downsizing Blues.

New HR Blogs that you have to put in your Reader:

Do the Work - the new blog from Franny Oxford has a great premise, '50 Memos to the Universe'.  Franny is off to a great start, and I bet the Universe will want more than the promised 50 memos before it is all over.

HRWhisperer - The HR Whisperer is Heather Vogel, and her new blog can be found at www.hrwhisperer.com. Heather will be sharing her perspectives on the world of work and people with the vision of an experienced Organizational Development consultant.

And one more thing...

The fantastic Lisa Rosendahl is thinking of re-naming the HR Thoughts blog, pay her a visit and share some of your HR Thoughts with her. Also, it was her Birthday yesterday, so please give her a shout-out if you haven't already.

Oh, and one more thing - Shauna and I have been working on a new home for the HR Happy Hour Show, once it is ready, I will be sure to post that information here.

Did I miss any new additions or changes? If I did, let me know in the comments.

Good luck to everyone with the new homes and blogs!