Student SHRM Conference & H.R. Games at NIU

If you are looking for a way to share or renew your passion for HR, I suggest you do two things, talk to those just starting out in HR and volunteer. This past weekend Northern Illinois University hosted the first Illinois Student SHRM Conference and HR Games, and I had the chance to participate.

The conference was planned and coordinated by the NIU Student Chapter of SHRM, headed up by student, John Bruce under the guidance of NIU faculty advisor Dr. Bishop and ISU faculty advisor Dr. Goodman. There were 48 students from 7 different colleges that met on the campus of NIU for two days to networking, to listen and learn from speakers and to test and challenge their knowledge of HR. Schools represented include: Bradley University, Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, Northern Illinois University, Robert Morris University, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.

The two days were a mix of competition in Jeopardy style HR games, networking and lectures. Thirty HR professionals volunteered to act as judges, timekeepers and score keepers, with John Jorgenson acting as the Head Judge. At the end of the day on Saturday, the final four teams consisted of Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, University of Illinois and Northern Illinois University. Eastern Illinois and Illinois State advanced to the finals and in the end Eastern Illinois won the competition. 

Speakers included Jeff DeMoss, District Team Leader at Target, John Savas, VP Business Development at Forest Financial Group and Audrey Southland, Sr. VP HR at Follett Higher Education Group. Topics covered Networking, HR Professionalism, and the Strategic Importance of HR. Sponsors for the weekend were Forest Financial Group, Illinois SHRM State Council, Follett Higher Education Group, Target, Northern Illinois University College of Business, and Northern Illinois University Department of Management.

It was quite amazing to meet these students who represent the future of the HR profession. They are excited to prove what they know, eager to know more and open to all possibilities. The advisors and faculty are dedicated, invested in the success of the students and proud of the student accomplishments. The HR professionals who volunteered were generous in the giving of their time and knowledge, and impressed by the quality of the up and coming professionals. I am truly grateful for having had the opportunity to participate in what hopefully will be an annual event.

-Laura Donahue ISC SHRM Director of College Relations

Thanks to the ILSHRM Technology Director

This post is about our revamped Illinois State Council of SHRM website. We have tweeted and re-tweeted about it, so if you are out here in the HR blogosphere you probably already know this. But, I must say I am really proud of the new site and the look. I didn’t have anything to do with other than offer a few opinions now and then. The State Council has a dedicated volunteer Carrie Gurski who has worked long and hare to bring this to fruition.


ISC Technology Director Carrie Gurski

 Carrie is like many other SHRM volunteers, she goes about her volunteer work in the organization without any fanfare and very little recognition. All of us in HR know this is wrong, as employers, we are supposed to recognize and reward our top performers. So on behalf of the entire Illinois State Council of SHRM I am calling out Carrie Gurski our Technology Director/Webmaster and letting her know how grateful we are for her efforts.

Now while I don’t want to diminish Carrie’s efforts at all but as I write this post I am seeing the tweets roll in from California from the SHRM Regional Conference #SHRMreg. The attendees are State Council Directors & Director Elects and of course the folks from the mothership on Duke Street (Headquarters). But this organization is driven so much by volunteers at all levels. Most of whom do their work in obscurity making the local chapters and state councils run.

So thanks to all of our SHRM volunteers here in the Land of Lincoln, but I am saving our biggest kudos and thanks for Carrie.

- Dave Ryan ISC Director of Social Media

Upcoming Legislative Conference 4/12 & 4/13

The 2 nd Annual ISC-SHRM Legislative Conference will be held in conjunction with the 12th Annual Legislative Conference hosted by CIC-SHRM on April 12th and 13th in Springfield at the Lincoln Land Capitol Training Center. It will be a full two day event with seven extremely experienced professionals presenting on very timely HR issues and updates. National SHRM Governmental Affairs staff, Mike Layman will be presenting a Federal Policy Update, while others will present on topics from Union Organizing to Healthcare Reform. A reception will be held Tuesday evening at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and a visit to the Illinois Statehouse is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon to meet with representatives regarding hot HR legal issues. More information including registration information will be available on the Illinois State Council website very soon. For now please save the date.

- Tami Ireland, MA, PHR, Government Affairs CLA Director for the ISC-SHRM