Here Are 20 Kick-Ass HR Career Goals For 2012…
by Alan Collins
It’s that time again.
2012. A New Year.
This is time of year many HR folks make New Year resolutions.
You should too.
But you shouldn’t just make any old kind of flimsy commitments.
Now’s the time to set some REAL goals that can help you dramatically take your HR career to the next level…starting today!
Stuck for ideas? Not sure where to start?
No problem.
I’m going to give you twenty goals to consider. Most of them are simple. A couple are completely out-of-the box. Many of them take some work. But all of them absolutely kick ass.
Pick two of them and start making things happen.
Here you go: 20 HR career goals — any one of which that will easily place you among the top 5% of all HR professionals.
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The World’s Most Disgusting HR Leader…And What I’ve Learned From Her!
by Alan Collins
This is the story of a truly horrible HR leader.
This scumbag’s name is Mary McLeod.
You may have heard of her. She’s the former Chief HR Officer at Schwab and Pfizer.
What you’re about to read are excerpts about her days as the head of HR, which were drawn from this article about Pfizer CEO Jeff Kinder that appeared in Fortune a few months back.
Now, I don’t know her personally. But I’ve learned a lot from her exploits.
Here’s her story (along with my take on it).
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Here’s $75,000 Worth of Leadership Advice…Condensed Into Just 2 Pages!
by Alan Collins
Tom Peters is a leadership rock star.
He charges $75,000 a crack give a 90-minute corporate presentation.
Recently, for one of his talks, he decided not to use powerpoint slides for the first time in years.
Instead, to prepare himself, he transferred his notes from slides to a word doc. It took him 5 days (and nights!) to get this down to a 2-pager.
In Tom’s own words: “Somewhere along the…way I discovered that [ in condensing all this down], I was attempting to summarize the last 45 years’ of my life observing good and bad organizations into, yes … 2 pages of notes. Have I succeeded? Of course not, but it ain’t bad.”
Want to see what he came up with? Check out his notes below in black and red…and here as a pdf.
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The Brutal Truth About The Relationships You Build in Human Resources…
By Alan Collins
A few days ago, I had lunch with a good friend of mine who just landed a new job.
She will be heading up HR for the Canadian division of a new technology firm.
Needless to say, she’s excited about her new gig. And I’m excited for her.
You see, we met as HR colleagues at Quaker Oats sixteen years ago and have been friends ever since. We’ve been there for each other through good times and bad — divorce, re-marriage, deaths in our family, raising kids, career disappointments, bad bosses, layoffs, illnesses, and job changes.
Even though she’s moving to her new job in Toronto, and I’m in Chicago, I have no doubt that we’ll keep in contact. I consider her a lifetime friend. And, I have very few people in my life that I consider LIFETIME friends. Friends, yes. Lifetime friends, no.
Thinking of her new role reminded me of all the HR jobs I’ve had. Over the years, I was always meeting new people, building relationships with many of them – and then leaving them or getting left behind when they moved on.
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What To Do If You’re NOT a Superstar in HR…And Still Attain Massive Career Success!
By Alan Collins
There are superstars in Human Resources.
You know who I’m talking about.
These folks get chosen FIRST for the promotions.
They get picked FIRST for all of the sexy project teams and assignments.
They get the PRIORITY for exposure to the higher ups.
They are chased down and romanced by recruiters
They get the SUPREME RESPECT of their HR colleagues.
Now, don’t hate them or get jealous. They deserve everything they get because they are remarkable. Their biggest challenge is sorting through all the opportunities that are dumped in their lap.
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How To Stand Out & Impress The Hell Out of Hiring Managers With a Powerful & Compelling HR Resume!
By Alan Collins
If you’ve been sending out resumes and you’re getting no responses, chances are your resume is the problem.
As you know, most folks screening HR resumes are squeezed for time and typically only spend 15-20 seconds per applicant.
This means your resume must immediately grab them by the throat and sell you as a powerful and compelling candidate…and illustrate that you’re worth contacting for further interviews. Sadly, most HR resumes don’t.
Even if you aren’t currently in the job market, failing to know how to best highlight your achievements is a weakness that can absolutely destroy your HR career.
When it comes to performance appraisals, promotion consideration, even day-to-day work assignments, being a master at how to influence the perception of you as a performer is key to ensuring that your career in HR reaches the heights you desire. And that’s what a powerful and compelling resume can do.
With that in mind, here are 12 suggestions that will make your resume stand out from the rest of the bunch.
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How To Hit The Ground Running FAST From Day One in Human Resources…
by Alan Collins
There’s an old story that circulated around the Quaker Oats Company in HR for years.
It’s one that illustrates an important point about breaking in as the new kid on block in HR.
It seems that two weeks after she arrived, the brand new Chief People Officer (CPO) of Quaker Oats was invited by the sales organization to be a featured guest speaker at an off-site meeting.
It would be the first time they would meet her in person.
Over breakfast with the group, she sat at the head table and said to the waiter, “Bring me another bowl of oatmeal.”
The waiter says: “Can’t. We’re running out of oatmeal, so only one bowl of oatmeal per person.”
“Do you know who I am?” asks the frustrated CPO.
“Nope,” says the waiter. “Who are you?”
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Steve Jobs & Your Human Resources Career – Could You Survive His “Elevator Ride” From Hell?
By Alan Collins
Steve Jobs was an icon. His impact on our society, how we live and how we communicate with each other was enormous. And, may never be equalled.
What I admire most is that he set high expectations both for himself…and also for his employees.
Nothing illustrates this more than a story told by Ed Niehaus.
Ed was hired by Steve Jobs as a senior executive at Apple.
He remembers “the elevator ride” that has become a legendary tale in the Silicon Valley.
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20 Brutally Blunt Tips For Moving Your HR Career Forward…Starting Today!
By Alan Collins
1. “There’s nothing more useless than doing something really well which does not need to be done at all.” –Peter Drucker
2. “If you’re a candidate for an HR job and the hiring manager spends 45 minutes talking about himself, the company or his Harley, let him. He’s going to come out of the interview saying you’re a great candidate.” –Kris Dunn, Chief human resources officer at Atlanta-based Kinetix, who blogs at HRCapitalist.com
3. “Go to godaddy.com or another domain name service, and buy a URL that represents something in Human Resources you’d like to do someday. Just owning the domain lets you know that the possibility is there for you when you are ready. In my case, I bought the domain name SuccessInHR.com over six years ago. I held it for three years before I finally got off my butt and did anything with it.” -Alan Collins
4. “You have become a great HR coach when you can give real, authentic, actionable feedback to people…without pissing them off.” -From “Best Kept HR Secrets”
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8 Tiny Clues That You’re No Longer a “High Potential” in HR – And What To Do About It!
by Alan Collins
Are you considered an HR “high potential” in your organization?
Or have you fallen off the ladder?
Do you know for certain?
If you don’t know for sure, you’re not alone.
Here’s the deal. As an HR pro, you’re aware that most companies have programs that identify their “high potentials” and future leaders.
These programs go by all types of names. In your organization, they might be called Talent Reviews, or Succession Plans, or People Planning Sessions or the like.
Interestingly, a recent Center for Creative Leadership study revealed that only 40% of employers formally tell the “hi-pots” that are identified through these programs of their status.
Wow! I’m stunned but not surprised by this statistic. What this means is that more likely than not, your organization will not just come right out and communicate that you are one of their “special” ones.
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7 Tips For Leaving Your HR Job — And Creating Your Own HR Business That Serves A “Higher Purpose”
by Alan Collins
Many HR people dream about it. But few have the courage to follow their heart and do it.
Mark Griffin did.
Mark is a former colleague of mine at Quaker Oats and I recently contacted him because I was so inspired by his “unique” story.
You see, I’ve never thought of HR as a job. Or even as a career. And it’s certainly not as something that is owned by the company you happen to work for at the moment. I regard HR as a calling. A calling because, as HR professionals, we are in a unique position to make a difference in people’s lives and help create inspiring work places.
Mark, in his new HR role, is clearly doing all of this…and more.
Here is his story.
Last April, Mark decided it was time to leave the corporate HR world and launch his own HR business consulting firm. Many of his closest friends and colleagues thought he had completely lost his mind. With 20 years of HR leadership experience, including a stint as Vice President of HR at Valco Companies, Inc. Mark could have easily followed the traditional path of continuing his career in HR at another large organization with the comfort of a steady paycheck and benefits.
However, he decided that it was time do something different.
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Talent Retention: An Awesome Opportunity To Enhance Your Career and Reputation in HR…
by Alan Collins
I know I’m in the minority, but I like LeBron James. At his peak, he’s one of the best basketball players that ever lived.
Unfortunately, he has lots of haters. Among other things, many people still despise him for the horribly “insensitive” way he let his employer, the Cleveland Cavaliers, know about his “decision” to leave the organization.
He fired them on national TV…and gave them no heads up, no forewarning, no courtesy phone call in advance. Nothing! They found out when the rest of the world found out.
When the smoke cleared, people were pissed. Fans burned his jersey on the streets in Cleveland. His posters were torn down. Radio talk show phone lines were buried with calls from fans who raked him across the coals.
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How To Get “No Bull, Pull-No-Punches” HR Career Advice…Daily!
by Alan Collins
We have launched Success in HR Daily on Facebook!
All you have to do is click HERE and ‘like’ us Facebook and you’re subscribed.
You definitely do NOT want to miss our “pull-no-punches, no B.S., kick-butt” tips and advice for attaining awesome career success in Human Resources…now provided to you on a daily basis, Monday through Friday.
That’s right. Every day, we’ll be providing bite-sized HR career tips that will automatically be provided to your Facebook newsfeed page.
Don’t worry! We’ll still be posting the same in-depth, detailed articles here at Success in HR, like we always have. Success in HR Daily will give you the same quality of information, but in smaller, bite-size pieces, every single day.
Click HERE and ‘like’ us on Facebook now.
About the author: Alan Collins was Vice President – Human Resources at PepsiCo where he led HR initiatives for their Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Tropicana businesses. He is now President of Success in HR, Inc. and the author of the HR best seller, UNWRITTEN HR RULES . His new book, BEST KEPT HR SECRETS is now available on Amazon.
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The Best HR Career Advice I’ve Heard This Month…Maybe All Year!
by Alan Collins
I recently participated in a panel discussion on managing your HR career.
One of the panelists shared this nugget of wisdom…
“My experience tells me that most operating managers and business leaders have more people problems than they can deal with.
And, if you’re in HR and they aren’t banging down YOUR door asking YOU for your advice in dealing with these issues, it’s for ONLY three reasons:
- They don’t know WHO you are.
- You’re not GOOD at what you do.
- They don’t TRUST you.
Sadly, any one of these reasons is the kiss of death for your HR career with that organization.
So make sure you’ve got all of them taken care of.”
Short. Simple. Brilliant.
My question to you: Do you have them all taken care of?
Do you agree or disagree with this advice? What’s the best career advice you’ve heard recently? Post your comments HERE.
About the author: Alan Collins was Vice President – Human Resources at PepsiCo where he led HR initiatives for their Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Tropicana businesses. He is now President of Success in HR, Inc. and the author of the HR best seller, UNWRITTEN HR RULES . His new book, BEST KEPT HR SECRETS is now available on Amazon.
Feed your network: If you like this article, feel free to share it with your FACEBOOK friends by clicking the “share” and “like” buttons below…or share this with your TWITTER followers by clicking the “tweet” button below.
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9 Absolutely Disgusting HR Leaders — And What You Can Learn From Them!
by Alan Collins
Like most folks, I awaited and was stunned by the outcome of the Casey Anthony trial (pictured left).
Look, I don’t know if she really killed her baby or not. But I do know this. She was a sleazy liar. And, for that, she was found guilty.
Her situation reminded me that we have sleaze-buckets throughout society…and HR is no different. And, it reminded me that, when we encounter them in HR, we need to call them out…and also learn from them.
And I’m going to do both in this article
First up, Stephanie Jensen.
Stephanie was a rising star with a great track record in HR. She was so good she became Brocade Communications Systems VP for Human Resources in record time. She had come a long way and had a lot to be proud of after starting off in an entry-level position at Apple.
Unfortunately, her career took a detour that she hadn’t planned. You see…
Stephanie, this high potential HR executive…was sentenced to
four months in federal prison and fined $1.25 million bucks.
You might wonder…WOW!, what the heck happened?
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