Tuesday, November 26, 2013

OzHR #13 - Internships

Another one bites the dust as Conde Nast shuts down its internship program. As a previous Conde Nast intern says "I cried myself to sleep", and as lots of twitterers say in reply "toughen up princess". It's slave labour, it's invaluable experience, it's the new job economy, it's an exploitation - can we make our minds up?!

I got into an internship with a magazine in Singapore when I was still a uni student, and then they told me I wouldn't get paid. So I said "thanks, but no thanks". I only mildly regret that decision, because here I am writing because I love writing, and to have spent time in a magazine would have been invaluable. Instead I worked and got paid as an English-speaking playmate for 2 small Mandarin-speaking children. It was an awesome job.

Anyway, now I'm a little unsure about internships. In some ways they seem like a necessity for a career, and in other ways, they seem like an exploitation of cheap (free) labour. What do you think?

The chat will be Thursday 28 November starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions are:

1) What's the best way to run a mutually beneficial internship? Is it better to just admit it's an unfeasible program?

2) The nature of work is changing - do internships help or hinder positive changes in the work world?

3) If companies don't provide internships, should they use internship experience as a way to differentiate job candidates?

4) What's more valuable - an unpaid internship in the relevant industry, or an entry level job in any industry?

Monday, November 25, 2013

The 3rd Half, the 5th Quarter, The Recap of OzHR #12

Boy oh boy do we have some smarty pants contributing to our OzHR tweetchats!

Here are their final thoughts on the topic of benefits:


If you want to read the whole conversation between all those clever clogs, check out the storify.

See you at the next chat!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

OzHR #12 - The Cold Hard Reality of Benefits

Benefits - it's all a bit murky, a bit 'buzz-word'y, and a little bit hard to navigate as an employee. We are now in a world of work with incredible possibilities (hello Google workplaces) and dire realities (hello GFC, job uncertainty, and an employer's market). In this context, benefits can often seem essential and yet totally fanciful. On the other end of the spectrum, as an employee, benefits often feel like a lottery scheme. It's all about getting the right profile (parent/single/male/female/executive/customer facing role) and being there at the right time and place. Yes, you may work at Google as a contract cleaner, but no, there will be no ping-pong table for you!

And at the root of it all is missing out. Who's got what, how can I get it, and why am I missing out on it?! It's all linked into our base emotions - the most dangerous of all places for the workplace to tinker in.

So let's discuss benefits, your personal experience with them, and your professional thoughts on them.

The chat will be Thursday 21 November starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions are:

1.  How do you define what's essential to an employment agreement & what's a benefit? Has it changed with your personal circumstances?

2. When have you felt most empowered to ask for work/life benefits at work? Was the empowerment from family/work culture/age etc?
3. What should be the real motivation to offer benefits to employees? Is it fake & dispensable, or a modern-day career necessity?

4. As business confidence goes down, what do see as the future of employee benefits? Please share your personal vision for benefits.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The 3rd Half, the 5th Quarter, The Recap of OzHR #11

Here's the storify for the chat - but for the highlights, stick with me.

1. How can an attendee maximise their experience during a conference and in the afterglow of it? Your top tips/tricks?


2. What's your strategy and method for managing the contacts you made at a professional event, and keeping it sincere?

3. Can someone become a credible expert and/or advocate to colleagues for a matter they just learnt about at a conference?


4. If an organisation doesn't work to capture their employees' conference experiences, is it a waste of everyone's time?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

OzHR #11 - Bringing Home the Conference Bacon

You've just been to a great conference (perhaps it was the killer Sourcing Summit Sydney 2013 but it could be anything) and you are pumped. The inspiration is flowing, the passion is renewed and the possibilities seem endless.

Then you return to your workplace.

The unread emails, uninspired team members, stack of business cards, and pressure to show a return on the investment in the conference - it is one major anti-climax. Is the only response to be a human tsunami wave of enthusiasm back into the workplace, and to lead your own mini-conference for your team members? Or is there a better way?

Well let's talk about it, and share strategies for bringing home the conference bacon of knowledge, shortcuts, contacts, friends, and freebies.

The chat will be Thursday 14 November starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions are:

1. How can an attendee maximise their experience during a conference and in the afterglow of it? Your top tips/tricks?

2. What's your strategy and method for managing the contacts you made at a professional event, and keeping it sincere? 

3. Can someone become a credible expert and/or advocate to colleagues for a matter they just learnt about at a conference?

4. If an organisation doesn't work to capture their employees' conference experiences, is it a waste of everyone's time?

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

OzHR #10 - The Great Disconnect

I've written an article for NZLEAD which you can read here, and it is titled "A Different Flavour For HR". The whole point of the article really is this:

The Australian HR media, conferences, associations, and image, do not reflect the real state of HR in Australia.


Lets look at some statistics:
  • approximately 1 in 4 Australians weren't born in Australia;
  • approximately 1 in 6 Australians speak a language other than English at home;
  • approximately 1 in 3 Australians do not live in a major city; and
  • the three biggest industry employers are Manufacturing, Retail Trade, and Healthcare and Social Assistance.

What a hugely different picture to what we see in HR media! Where is our discussion on ethnic and linguistic diversity, geographical separation, and major employers? How are we ensuring that HR as a whole is being improved, promoted and appreciated in Australia? Not just the people management aspects, but the recruitment, learning and development, administration and organisational development - all of it. How are we promoting excellence in all of Australian HR for a real Australia?

Well, there's no time like the present, so let's discuss it now. 

The chat will be Thursday 7 November starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions are:

1. Do you see a disconnect between HR media, conferences, associations and image, and what you actually need/use in your daily HR work? 

2. If "a rising tide floats all boats", what's best for a HR community? Inclusiveness to all levels, or high level representation only?

3. Why do you think HR sharing is often superficial? Does confidentiality mute HR? How can HR start to have bolder discussions?

4. If there was one aspect of HR representation that you could change right now, what would it be and why?