OzHR #8 - Sourcing, a #SOSUAU special

**Really Super Exciting Update! There is one free ticket to the Sourcing Summit in Sydney, for tonight's best contributor. No special requirements to enter, just participate in the October 24 tweet chat. Yay! **

On 13 November 2013, Sourcing Summit #SOSUAU is coming to Sydney. With rave reviews from members attending the similar conferences of #RHUBNZ and #SOSUEU, it looks like it's going to be a fantastic event. The cherry on top will be the keynote speakers, Will Staney is going to demonstrate Google Glass and Stacy Zapar is the most connected woman on Linkedin. Google glass guys!

Check out the event at www.sosu.com.au and be sure to look at the twitter hashtag #sosuau. And finally, if you are attending, please consider buying through the OzHR link to the right - proceeds from your ticket will go towards launching a slick new OzHR website!

So, whether you're going to the conference or not, let's talk about sourcing. Ever heard of it before? Wikipedia helped me out:

Sourcing is a talent management discipline which is focused on the identification, assessment and engagement of skilled worker candidates through proactive recruiting techniques. Professionals specializing in sourcing are known primarily as Sourcers; but also Internet Recruiters, Recruiting Researchers or Talent Scouts.

Perhaps you're already a sourcing guru? Or maybe you work in the recruitment industry? Or possibly you have no idea about this at all? Well whatever your level, this chat will be interesting for everyone. I'm hoping for some great knowledge sharing between ourselves, and some broadening of horizons as we mine deeper into the rich and diverse world of people management.

The chat will be Thursday 24 October, 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 does 'talent network', 'sourcing' and 'active recruitment' mean to you? What's your familiarity with it?

2. Is personal branding a truly important career investment in terms of visibility to recruiters, or just another buzzword bust? 

3. If you weren't looking, how could a recruiter convince you to change jobs? Any personal experience in this?

4. Do you see sourcing potentially becoming part of a generalist HR skill set, or is it genuinely a recruiter's niche?

OzHR #7 - Coaching for the Process for the Outcome

"Fall in love with the process and the results will follow. You’ve got to want to act more than you want to be an actor. You’ve got to want to do whatever you want to do more than you want to be whatever you want to be, want to write more than you want to be a writer, want to heal more than you want to be a doctor, want to teach more than you want to be a teacher, want to serve more than you want to be a politician. Life is too challenging for external rewards to sustain us. The joy is in the journey." Attributed to Bradley Whitford, but it's the internet... who knows...

Ask anyone who is an expert at something and they'll surely tell you that they just love doing what they're doing, the 'expert' status is just a bonus. How often though do we coach people for an outcome, rather than helping them to fall in love with HR processes? Is it even possible for non-HR folk to be in love with a HR process? Well I say - Yes! If the process is there for a good reason, it should be a rewarding one to use. If the process is rewarding, then there should be a possibility of the users 'loving' or at least valuing it.

 Let's have a play at coaching for process, rather than the final outcome.

The chat will be Thursday 17 October, 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:

1A Quickfire: In 120 characters, pitch to a supervisor the process of holding quarterly performance review meetings with their staff.

1B: How would you go about getting supervisors to fall in love with holding performance reviews with staff?

2A Quickfire: In 120 characters, pitch to a manager the use of a fully reported equal opportunity processs for recruitment.

2B: How would you go about getting managers to fall in love with reported equal opportunity recruitment?

3A Quickfire: In 120 characters, pitch to an employee the process of staying up to date with internal communications.

3B: How would you go about getting employees to fall in love with reading internal communications?

4A Quickfire: In 120 characters, pitch to an HR Officer the process of seeking feedback from internal customers.

4B: How would you go about getting a HR Officer to fall in love with seeking feedback from internal customers?

See you then,
Sarah

OzHR #6 - The Ageing Workforce

On the first ever Global Ageing Index, Australia has been ranked as 14 out of 91 - not too bad in the scheme of things. But in the break down of Australia's ranking, the economic security comes to 57th.

Taken from the website, this graphic explains their rating of Australia's Economic Security for the Aged:

And yet, Australia is ranked as 4th for its Employment and Education of the Aged:

That's great news in  a way - although suffering from economic insecurity, employment isn't impossible. But by 2050, 28.9% of the Australian population will be over 60 years old. That's almost a 10% increase from Australia's current percentage of 60 year olds and over. With all of these factors, it makes me wonder will Australia have greater welfare for the ageing population, or will people's economic security come to rely further on employment? My bets are on employment.

So as a bunch of people interested in managing people, let's talk about managing the ageing workforce of Australia.

The chat will be Thursday 10 October, 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!

This week's questions are:

1.  Are there different motivators for the aged workforce? How would you meet them?

2. How can you see the 'digital divide' affecting the current and future aged workforce?

3. If you knew that 35% of the workforce was going to be in poverty after turning 60, would you do anything differently for your staff today? What would it be?

4. How would you manage the impression of an aged worker employed by your organisation to perform a menial job? (Think of what you tend to see in developing countries... i.e. this 75 year old man working in a coffee shop in Singapore.)

See you then,

Sarah

OzHR #5 - Accountability for HR

Managers get fired if:

• patients don't get treated;
• the factory doesn't meet production targets;
• the sales targets aren't met for the period;
• invoices don't get sent to customers;
• enough product isn't bought to sell etc.

Managers of hospitals, factories, marketing departments, or finance, it doesn't really matter what the specifics of their task are. The expectation is they will meet their targets and get the job done every single time.

But what about HR? Where is their accountability in all of this? If HR professionals demand equal access to the executive suite and remuneration, it seems only fair that they also accept a 'perform or be fired' risk. And although HR may work under similar pressure, can we honestly say that HR is measured as easily and accurately as sales figures? This is the stuff that credibility is made of. 

The chat will be Thursday 3 October, starting at 7pm AEST, 6:30pm ACST and 5pm 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!

This week's questions are:

1. How can HR performance be measured so that it can be given a value? Get creative, realistic & specific - share some trench tools.

2. Since accountability fosters credibility, what can HR do to create accountability for itself in an organisation or as a profession?

3. Could HR ever be presented within the profit/loss statement or is it too far removed from numbers? Does this affect HR's reputation?

4. If tomorrow, HR had to meet targets like a marketing department, what would you predict the result to be? Why?

See you then,

Sarah

OzHR #4 - Employees vs Management

This week our host is Adam Axon who is active on twitter as @adamaxon. If you don't follow him yet, then please do, because he's a wonderful person to have a chat to. Thanks Adam, this is going to be a fabulous week! - Sarah

Employees vs. Management, the great organisational divide. As Human Resources professionals we often find ourselves in the unique position of being exposed to both sides of this divide, but what responsibility does this place on our shoulders? Is it our job to try and bridge the divide and bring both sides closer together or do our loyalties lie with only one side?

This week we're going to take a closer look at the divide. We'll look into what causes it, talk about the impacts it can have on organisations & the people within, and then finally we'll discuss how to reduce the divide, and who's responsibility it is to do so. Hope you can join in!

The chat will be Thursday 26 September, starting at 7pm AEST, 6:30pm ACST and 5pm 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!

This week's questions are:

1. What are the major contributors behind the divide between employees & management?

2. What impacts can this divide have on our organisations? Is it important that we try and minimise it?

3. Whose responsibility should it be to do this? What role does HR have to play?

4. What are some of the key actions that HR/Management/Employees can take in order to try and minimise the divide?

See you then,

Adam

OzHR #3 - The Verdict on Interviews

Job interviews are a process every single one of us has either experienced on one or two sides of the table. Perhaps we even have insight on how recruitment processes can affect a whole organisation, like branding, diversity, efficiency and team building. Whatever your experience, or insight, one thing is for sure: we all have an opinion about it.

So this week we're looking into job interviews, and especially looking into an interview's efficiency and effectiveness. How should it be run, by who, to find what and what can be done better? It's the most intimate process the public, employees, employers and HR will get with each other - so let's talk about it!

The chat will be Thursday 19 September, starting at 7pm AEST, 6:30pm ACST and 5pm AWST. Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it!

This week's questions are:

1. What does a successful job interview look like for the employer & the candidate? Why isn't it achieved?

2. Should HR be training itself out of job interviews ? If so, who does it go to?

3. Are interviews actually effective beyond 5 minutes, or just reinforcing the first 5 minutes?

4. What is your vision for the future of interviewing, especially in Australian culture?

Politics and People Managers

Thank the heavens, the Australian election is this Saturday 7 September - this has been the longest run up to the election ever, and after eight months I'm sure we're all very, very over it! So let's have one last political hurrah and discuss state politics and people management.

Looking outside of organisational politics, this discussion will focus on state politics (not the state region but government administration). Politics is all about citizens, and can affect everything about how an organisation works. It can impact budgets, start and stop projects, import talent and protect talent - there is so much power in it. And yet, we hardly ever acknowledge HR & people managers as important political participators. I think this is a taboo we need to explore.

The chat will be Thursday 12 September, starting at 7pm AEST, 6:30pm ACST and 5pm AWST. Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it!

This week's questions are:

1. How much do you consciously bring state politics into your workplace? Why/why not?

2. What civil political issues do you think affect people management? Does this influence your political involvement?

3. Can someone be a good people manager if they're not politically conscious? Why/why not?

4. Does political participation, or could it, make people management more effective in organisations?


See you then,

Sarah