Jory Des Jardins President and Co-Founder of BlogHER will appear tonight onCompassionate HR/Social Media at 7:30 p.m. eastern standard time–4:30 p.m. pacific time.    Why is this important? Jory gave me the encouragement, empowerment, and enlightenment for me to start blogging.  That’s right.  Jory did.  This is a little known fact about Margo Rose.  Most people think I started my blog because of my involvement in the HR Community.  While this is true in part, the source of inspiration for me to develop the courage and insight to begin writing came from BlogHER.com.

The world of women owned businesses, women as power brokers, and  women as decision makers is of profound relevance. Today, women decide what products we buy, what cars we drive, what hygiene products we purchase, what food is in our refrigerator, and what products we use to do our laundry.   Every decision consumers make is often guided by women, and consumer owned companies know this fact. It’s why they jockey for position to be sponsors of the internationally renown BlogHER conferences, the BlogHER website, the BlogHER blogs, and the BlogHER brands.

While I personally find the term “mommy blogger,” demeaning, and a little distasteful, I am pleased to see Corporate America putting money behind women-owned blogs, and small women owned businesses. You see, the women who attend these conferences, write these blogs, visit these websites are prime candidates for the recruitment, and candidate sourcing industry. The human resources industry is also jumping on the bandwagon. Where nationally recognized speakers like Laurie Ruettimann and Sarah White are attending BlogHER10, and go on to Bryan Wempen’s radio show to discuss it, it’s time to perk up your eyes and ears and take notice.

When though leaders like Sharlyn Lauby, and Carmen Hudson are attendingBlogHER10 conferences, what that means is that female blogging conferences are are trending. Sharlyn, and Carmen are nationally recognized experts in the human resources, recruitment and organization development community. They are sought after by people around the world to speak and present at our industry conferences. In a word, these two women are geniuses. I don’t say that capriciously. Anyone who is anyone in our space knows this is true. Why did people like Laurie, Sarah, Sharlyn, and Carmen attend BlogHER10? Isn’t that answer obvious? Clearly it is because it was the place to be.

Serious knowledge brokering was taking place. I’m not talking about light weight fluff pieces, I’m talking about serious business focused sessions about work that has relevance, resonance, and reach around the world. It is time to stand up acknowledge, redefine, and praise Jory Des Jardin for spearheading this movement. She is the reason I do what I do. When I met her last fall, I was writing, journaling, and thinking about starting a blog. I was reading her blog. It wasn’t until I met her at the CincySM meeting that I was convinced it was safe to stick my toes deep into the water.
I asked her a question, a simple question: how does a woman start a blog and gain loyalty and readership? Her answer warmed my heart. She answered, then invited me to personally talk to her after the meeting.

Since I wrote the first Guidelines For HireFriday in May of this year, our community has grown exponentially.  As an omnipresent social media community, or more accurately, cluster of online communities; we have learned new lessons about how to grow, and incorporate best practices that will benefit: the job seeker, the recruiting community, the job board community, the executive coaching community, the resume writer community, the human resources community, and the business community at large.  

HireFriday is going viral, and as we grow, we want to maintain the interactive, interpersonal communication that makes it the most unique new media communities in the digital space. I make it a point to interact with every single person in our community. It is the 1:1 that makes this so rewarding for me.

TRU EVENTS launches its first US Unconference April 19-20 in WI. The Unconference trend-it’s all the rage! What is an unconference? An unconference is a facilitated participant-driven face-to-face conference around a theme or purpose, says Kaliya, author of The Unconference Blog. The unstructured sessions, the encouragement of open dialogue and debate, and the intensity of meeting with like-minded people is invigorating. Bill Boorman, and Geoff Webb co-founders of the Tru Eventsbring this international sensation to the United States.

I am delighted to lead a track at TRU USA about Compassionate HR, and the importance of steward leadership. As Gerry Crispin said, world class recruiters are not just people who are good at their jobs. They are professionals who are doing great things in their community. What I’ve learned since I launched my blogtalkradio program is that people who are engaged in volunteerism be it through their industry, or by participating in global humanitarian efforts are being fulfilled. I believe there is a causal relationship between corporate supported humanitarian efforts, and employee retention, attraction, motivation and recognition. I’ve been waving the flag of steward leadership, and this was validated when I attended the ERE Expo in San Diego last week.

In future posts, I will chronicle the companies and individuals who spoke about their humanitarian efforts. Corporate responsibility is not just a buzz word. It’s compassion in action.

As a part of my presentation at TRU USA, I will share detailed accounts about the inspiring experiences of the companies, and people who are doing spectacular things in their communities. Whether your volunteer efforts are local, or global, every act of kindness counts.

How do we empower our workforce? Help them to feel apart of something bigger than themselves. It doesn’t cost a dime to organize a day of volunteering at your local soup kitchen, shelter, or unemployment office. As human resource professionals, each of us can do our part.

7 a.m. I waited anxiously near the counter of Starbucks, thinking, “where is John Sumser?” He left a message and a direct message that he was running 20 minutes late for our meeting. He apologized, sat down, stared me dead in the eye and asked me a pointed question. “Why do I think Social Media Is Important.” Taken aback, I thought, “I’m here to interview you not visa versa.” I was concerned he was going to be dismissive, and frankly he was.

Yet I was challenged by the question.

I’m not going to begin to pretend that I am big enough to wander in his playground. Clearly, he’s been at it a whole lot longer than I. I am just a humble servant in this community, and in this space. With that said, I’m not a child. I’ve around the internet since 1994 when there was nothing but “gopher.”

Web browsers were few and far between. I’m not new to the web, nor do I claim to be a world class expert. I don’t know everything, but I do know some things. I know that technology is changing at lightening speed, and if we don’t keep up, we will be left behind. Sumser made me think about the future of social media. He claimed that it may not have a future. Is social media dead?

I wondered, “what is the meaning of influence.” How important is social media? Will we care 25 years from now? Or, is this a mere blip on the radar screen. John made me think. A good question can be far more important than a definitive answer.

Lists. Do we really need them? Do we need somebody else to tell us who’s the best in the business? Why would we need something like that. Aren’t we intelligent people; can’t we think for our selves?  There are lists for lists, it seems.  Yet, somehow, I am disturbed not that a Top Influencer list exists, but who these lists exclude.

Certainly, big mover and shaker publications can’t have “Everybody” lists.  Then, the list would not be special.  Recently, a list was created to applaud the top 25 recruiters.  While I admire and respect the creator of that list, I was miffed who it excluded.   It happened to exclude some of my favorite people; people who shaped the way I view the recruiting industry; people who’ve shown me the way.  No, my feelings weren’t hurt.  I feel very positive about the people who were included on the list.  They are great folks.  Their reach, relevance, and resonance can not be denied.

The power of positive recognition is compelling.  What these lists don’t have is a heart for those worthy people they leave behind.

Every time one of these important lists are published, I just want to raise my hand, and say, hey what about that guy?  I care about my friends, my mentors, my colleagues who I really believe should be on these lists.  Then when I see they were short shifted, I feel so bad for them. I hope I never make it on one of those lists.  I don’t know what I’d do if I did.  I’d probably call my boyfriend and say, honey let’s get on the next train out of dodge, because I’m not up for a rubber chicken dinner.

Here’s me bleeding on the page for my colleagues.  The irony is they could care less whether or not they make it on a list, or not.  They are mature.  Accolades are great when you get them.  Lists might even be great when you make them.  In the final analysis, we have to list ourselves.

Today, I started a new trend: it’s called #HireFriday. It’s a simple concept. It started like this. I created the #hastag #HireFriday. Then, I’d tweet their name, the type of work they were looking for, citing the industry they were in, and the location they wanted to live. It all started like this:

@HRMargo: I’ve started a New trend #HireFriday on twitter. If you have a friend who’s looking for a job, tweet on their behalf to your network!

Have a heart and do something like this for your friend in transition:

#HireFriday @Arleen14 She’s dedicated to making teams, businesses, and executives shine! She’s looking for a position in Ovido, Florida

I dedicated the entire tweet day tweeting for my friends, and friends of friends who were in actively seeking a new position.

I’ve been reviewing my posts the past few weeks, and I realized they’ve revolved around my blogtalkradio show, Compassionate HR.  It made me think what matters most?  The seething debate continues in the human resources and recruiting industry.  There are the hard bitten cynics who cry “I am not in the field of human resources to help people.”  In fact, they get angry, and dismissive when an interviewee suggests that’s why they are interested in the job.  Ok, I understand that argument.  But then the question begs to be asked, why did you choose to go into human resources?  If there wasn’t some altruistic motive somewhere in the back of your mind, what was it?   If you don’t want to help people, does that mean you want to hurt people?  I think not.   I can tell you this, people don’t go into to HR to get rich quick.  There are far easier ways to make a living.  There are easier ways to make the big bucks.

Unless you are a top level recruiter, or at the Vice President level, it is rare to exceed a high six figure income.  So, why…why do we go into HR? Is it because we are passionate what we do? Let’s break it down, shall we?

• Recruiting
• HR Management
• HRIS
• Benefits
• Compensation
• Training and Development
• Organization Development
• Employee Relations
• Legal Compliance
• Health, Safety, and Security
• HR Communication Strategy
• Human Resource Consultant and Vendor Relations

Not to mention the incredible services, the job boards, the human resource statisticians, the human resource reporters and publications, the professional associations, I could go on, and on the list is longer than I can account for here.  I understand that caring too much about the candidate can get in the way of the job a recruiter does for a client. The recruiters job is to find a specific skill set that will meet the needs of the client’s position. That is what they are paid to do.  I understand that employee relations experts spend the better part of their day resolving conflicts, and dealing with peoples head aches.  I understand the role of people in benefits and compensation can be cut and dried, and yet it is a very difficult position, particularly if they are developing competency models that match the positions to the appropriate payscale.  Benefits, that is an animal all its own, and to be really good at that job, you have to be well informed, and educated about healthcare industry.  Not to mention the health and safety experts-they should get medal of honor for keeping employees safe, and their employers out of court.  Legal compliance, Lawyers make a lot more money than their HR counter parts inside the organizations they represent. Yet, the HR Pro who has that job as to be so well schooled that they must be able to articulate the legal compliance issues to both employees and the brass at the helm of the organization. HR is not one job.  It is many.  In large corporations there are large staffs where each role I mentioned above is handled by a different person.  In mid to small companies, there’s often just a few people handling all the roles, we call them “generalists.” Each role has its perks, its satisfaction, its joy, and its sadness, because we deal with employees, candidates, colleagues, senior level executives and plant floor employees.  We deal with human beings.   I assert that if you have no desire to be useful to others, to be of service to your fellows, get a computer certification, and hide behind your desk.  But even then, you will invariably be put in a position where you will be pushed into service.

After tonight’s show  with Bill Boorman, I realized something important.  Giving is its own reward.  Bill is a man who sleeps 3 hours a night, and spends the other 21 hours networking, communicating, teaching, coaching, and giving back.  As I was listening to him wax eloquently about TruLondon, it made me realize how  important it is to believe deeply in something.  To believe in it so much, that it’s not just what you do, it’s what you are.  What you do represents your values, and what you hold dear.

Upon awakening I check my twitter feed for interesting blogposts. This is how I love to start my day.  Punk Rock HR, also known as Laurie Ruettimann wrote a compelling post. Social Recruiting Metrics & Measurements http://goo.gl/fb/032B.   I have a love-hate relationship with this topic and here’s why.  There are many consulting firms that do an excellent job providing back end analysis. There are metrics tools that include impressive pie charts, bar graphs, standard deviation analytics. But really, the question boils down to this: what and how are you going to use this information? Will you make a serious change in your recruiting strategies with the information you glean? Are you willing to invest in statistically valid instruments that measure real action, not conjecture? Or are you going to spend thousands of dollars on a data study, show it to the CEO and simply say, "Here’s the metrics report your requested." My pet-peeves include organizations who make major investments in studies, and then decide it’s either too expensive to act on the recommendations the data makes, or worse, thank you for the colorful charts and graphs, pat you on the butt and say, back to your cubicle. Smart HR Pros convince their CEOs of the efficacy and veracity of the studies and partner the reports with a compelling report that justifies why the take action on the findings. Of course your post answers the question why should we do a metrics study and what questions should we ask? Laurie addresses cogent questions as to how the organization defines itself, and what goals and information the company should attempt to measure.  Please read Laurie’s post to see the list of her carefully crafted questions.  I’m taking the case a step further and asking the age-old question: So what? So what do we want to learn? So what do we want to find? So what will we do once we uncover what we find, and so what will we do once we find it. HR Metrics studies are expensive, depending on what outside consulting firm you choose to use. If you are doing an in house study, it still requires hours and hours of time and internal resources to complete. So before you enter into the playing field of HR Metrics, arm your budget to answer the question, So what? If all your HR and Recruiting Departments are studying are “head counts" and superficial return on investment quotes, you’re not only missing the boat, you might just miss the journey that will set your organization sailing into success.

Today I saw the movie “AVATAR.” Seeing the 3D IMAX film was indescribably vivid! Images leap off the screen, jump on your lap, and stare into your eyes.  If I were in my office, and my colleagues were IMAX images, I’d say they are invading my personal space.  I could develop an entire instructional design for diversity, and sensitivity training on this topic alone. As I watched the film, I had flash backs of almost every colleague, client, and manager I’ve ever had. It made me laugh, it made me think, and it made me remember all the symbolism, and allegory of the struggles employees have when they want to rage at the big machine and “stick it to the man.” I imagined the people of Pandora as union members, and the corporate scientists and marines as management.  I wanted to create a dispute management system, with an anonymous tip line-and-processes through which communication processes could mitigate eminent disaster. It makes for an interesting twist for an employee relations plot.

The back story:

The blockbuster movie – which has already taken more than $1billion at the box office – tells the story of a disabled marine sent on a mission to a planet called Pandora, home to a race of giant blue aliens.  They are a peaceful people who embrace nature, and are stewards of their environment and community.

The Hero is an archetypal character who goes under cover to do reconnaissance.  He learns that the people of Pandora a wonderful beings. Once he sees the corporation’s selfish true colors, he feels compelled to fight back.  By now, I’m sure you are wondering:

What does the movie AVATAR have in common with human resources dilemmas?