Another Day in the HR Field

It's been a pleasure serving ten (10) fantastic states full of energetic volunteers and members of the professional Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) over the last five months as the North Central Membership Advisory Representative (aka MAC Rep) .  On Monday, my fellow MAC reps and I will be headed to SHRM Headquarters in D.C. to decipher and organize feedback we have received via meetings, conference calls, and survey's to prepare our message to the SHRM Board .  We will be meeting with them just prior to the Annual SHRM Conference (aka #SHRM13) in Chicago next month.  Please click here to watch the 16 minute screencast we have developed to share current stats and goals related to membership and volunteerism especially in the North Central Region.  The update includes the SHRM 4 pillar strategy, CHRO & global initiatives, star and superstar chapter and state council statistics, student conference, and much more. Feel free to contact me via this ...

The highlight of my day (besides the train pick up line on my way to Chicago) was hearing the enthusiastic, the entertaining, the straightforward gay Jew (her words not mine) from Facebook talk about Diversity & Inclusion at her company.  Sarah Sperling , lead, Diversity & Inclusion programs, Facebook, San Francisco, California knocked her session out of the ballpark today at the annual Society of Human Resources Management Diversity & Inclusion Conference at the Chicago Marriott Downtown on the Miracle Mile. The ideas were flowing and the energy in the room was outstanding primarily because of her unique and energizing style.  Her bio started with a trip down her Facebook timeline (fitting).  She then shared her experience in this role which is only a bit over a year mind you with not prior D&I experience.  The honor was in the fact that Facebook picked her!  During her inaugural year the employees started not one (which was her intent) but ...

The 2nd in a series about Strategic Human Resources Management: This is the second in a series of posts related to the Strategic Human Resources Management course I am teaching here at the University of Illinois Springfield.  This is a shout out to all those I have researched and the students will be researching who are considered by others as contributors to the field.  In addition, it is my way of asking for advice, information, and suggestion on who else might be out there that I have yet to run across. Since the names will be researched and papers will be written on each of them individually to learn more about the field and what contributions have been made, I am specifically searching out those who have published or speak regularly about the topic.  So if you have a moment please comment with any insight you may have and/or share this blog post with others you think may be helpful.  In the meantime, here is our first stab at a shout out for Strategic HRM co...

Today, being the fifth day on the job as the new State Director for Illinois State Council of SHRM, I thought I would share a few words. No, really our social media director, @DaveTheHRCzar, gave me a little nudge. I have plenty of time to write for our blog site among the overwhelming list of “to do’s on my desk from paid jobs not to mention our upcoming state Leadership Conference this Monday. So, I will be brief! First, I would like to share a little about my SHRM volunteer responsibilities over the years leading up to my current position on the state council. I joined our local chapter, CIC-SHRM, in the mid-90s and that’s about as clear as my memory gets. What I do know is that in 1997 I became active on the chapter board and joined SHRM in 1998 as a strongly encouraged requirement for being a board member. Before that I did not know anything about the national organization. In 2001, while still being involved in my chapter for another four years I joined the Illinois State Council...