HR Helping HR

The theme of this year's ILSHRM conference is HR Helping HR and we have plans to do just that. In this post I highlighted the keynote speakers who will be taking the stage to impart their wisdom with us. If you haven't read it yet, go check it out. Go ahead, I will wait.

Now that you are pumped about that I wanted to share another exciting event happening just before the actual conference begins. On Sunday, August 18, 2013 from 2-6pm at the Hilton Suites (located right next door to the Drury Lane), we will be hosting an event targeted at both social recruiters and social job seekers. Before I explain the event, let me give you a little background.

Over the past few years, ILSHRM has been a leader in highlighting emerging trends in HR. One of those emerging trends has and continues to be, social media. We have offered workshops, concurrent sessions and a cool Social Media Lab (which will make its appearance again this year) all focused on helping attendees gain a better understanding of social media usage in the workplace. Over and over we hear how attendees want more information targeted towards social recruiting.

At the same time we realize that as a profession, HR has been hit hard by the economy. Many human resource professionals have found themselves on the other side of the unemployment line for the first time in many years. Going from hiring manager to job seeker is no easy task, especially when the rules have completely changed. At last year's conference I was approached specifically by several individuals who asked if there was anything ILSHRM could do to help them in their job search.

In thinking about those two requests, this Sunday event is what I have come up with. We want to take social recruiting and pick it apart. We will talk about where, how and why. We will give you tools and resources to use and actionable items you can implement immediately. THEN we are going to reverse engineer that for the job search process.  We will highlight how job seekers can use a similar social media strategy on their side of the employment line. Oh and sometimes when recruiters and job seekers get into a room together, jobs happen. I'm just saying.

This event is for any HR pro currently looking for work and any HR pro looking to learn how to incorporate social recruiting into your current or future candidate strategy. The event will be led by both HR practitioners and social media aficionados so attendees get the best balance of information.

The cost of the event is $50 and is considered separate from the actual conference.  To register for the event or overall conference, click here.

We are very excited to be able to offer this special event and hope you will join us for this and the rest of the conference in August.

Sabrina Baker, PHR  - ILSHRM Conference Chair

ILSHRM News

Today post is from  Cathy S. Plouzek, PHR ILSHRM Directors– Spring 2013

Hey ya’ll!  Happy Spring …

In my last update, I outlined the direction and vision for ILSHRM for the next couple of years.   Our theme is simple -- ILSHRM is HR people helping HR people.  During our Annual Leadership conference last January, we used this theme to help refine the ILSHRM Purpose, Mission, and Vision –

Purpose
We promote and support the interests, success and needs of our members and the Illinois HR community
Mission:
Lead and serve our members as well as the entire Illinois HR community by providing timely and relevant information, ongoing professional development opportunities, and intra-state communication on issues of interest in the field of human resources.
Vision:
Be the “HR HUB” and unifying voice in Illinois, supporting HR professionals, business leaders, legislators and our communities.

One of the many ways we promote and support the interests, success and needs of our members and the Illinois HR community is to offer and/or support five major conferences throughout the year:

ILSHRM Leadership Conference – January

ILSHRM and CIC-SHRM Legislative Conference – April

SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition – June 16-29, 2013

ILSHRM State Conference – August 18-20, 2013

SHRM Leadership Conference – November 21-23, 2013

The ILSHRM Leadership Conference is our annual conference targeted at the volunteer board members of our ILSHRM Chapters. The focus of this conference is to offer volunteer leaders a chance to network and learn best practices that will help them strengthen the work of their local SHRM Chapter. Each year this conference offers a deeper understanding of how SHRM, the Illinois State Council of SHRM and Chapters support the HR Professional.  

We had over 130 chapter leaders attend ILSHRMLead13 – our largest Leadership Conference to date!  Plans are underway for ILSHRMLead14 and I am very excited to announce that Pamela J. Green, MBA, SPHR – President and Founder at Power Project Institute LLC and Former Vice President/Chief Membership Officer at SHRM will be our keynote speaker.  Check out her promo video and stay tuned for more exciting details.

In the past several years, ILSHRM and CIC-SHRM has teamed up to host an Annual Legislative

Conference in Springfield.  Our focus at this conference is to introduce the importance of advocacy and to educate the attendees on the latest trends and changes in employment law.   As an advocate for the HR community, it is important that we keep our elected officials informed on how public policy issues can affect employees, employers, and the HR profession as a whole.  ILSHRM has a group of dedicated volunteers that work with paid lobbyists to stay abreast of the latest issues that affect HR.  This year about 20 HR Pros traveled to the Illinois State Capitol and dropped off ILSHRM fact sheets to our elected Representatives and their Staff.  

Illinois is excited to host the SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition, June 16-19, in Chicago.  This year’s conference will feature keynote presentations from Fareed Zakaria, Blake Mycoskie, Dan Pink, and Mark Kelly, plus over 200 concurrent sessions and the world's largest HR exposition.  A special thank you goes out to Chicago SHRM … All volunteer positions are filled!

The Illinois HR Conference & Exposition is the annual conference of ILSHRM. Each year the event attracts over 600 human resource professionals and vendors throughout the state of Illinois and across the nation. Programs presented at the conference cover all aspects of the SHRM Body of Knowledge. In addition to multiple educational opportunities, attendees will also be able to network with fellow human resource professionals, check out the latest and greatest services offered by the top human resource vendors and have some fun at our social events.   Check out this video and watch keynote speaker Jason Lauritsen leads us in our first ILSHRM Flashmob.  Join in on the fun – August 18-20, at Drury Lane Dinner Theatre in  Oakbrook Terrace.  Registration is now open. 

HR ROCKS! HR ROCKS! HR ROCKS!

The SHRM Leadership Conference is an event designed to give key SHRM volunteers the opportunity to gain information about their volunteer role, network with peers, share effective practices and challenges across regions, and engage with SHRM staff.  This conference also features Capitol Hill Visits where we have an opportunity to join fellow SHRM volunteer leaders and the SHRM Government Affairs staff for a trip to the US Capitol. 

I hope I’ve given you the information you need to consider joining us at any or all of these conferences.  If

not, please connect with me using the media listed below.  A conference is a great place to learn and meet people.  This is networking in its truest form!  You communicate with people daily on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  Conferences are where you can actually meet people in real life, put a face to the name, and build your ILSHRM Network.  

ILSHRM Capitol Visit 2013… a Great Success

Today's post is from Brian Spencer. He is our intern this semester at ILSHRM as well as RogersHR Consulting.  He will be graduating this May from UIS with a degree in Management and focused on beginning a new career in HR.  He has been a tremendous asset to us in promoting the Advocacy Program here in the state and help coordinate projects for the upcoming Legislative Conference this April.  Connect with him on Linkedin

We had a fantastic group of HR folks travel down to the State Capitol Building this year!  This is the fourth year that we have had our spring conference and capitol visit and the first year that it has rained so I guess we should count our blessings.  Everyone took the weather in stride.  Some car pooled over the few blocks and some of us walked with umbrellas as the rain started to lighten up; falling gently but steadily down rather than sideways.  We met in the rotunda for a few group pictures before descending on our individual local official’s offices.  Many of us even used the tunnel, connecting the Capitol building to the Stratton building next door, for the very first time!

Those who visited the Illinois Statehouse as part of the Legislative Conference

We had our plan of attack ready before we left the conference.  For those of us who knew our official’s names we looked up their office numbers for those that did not we were able to look up our district and get the information we needed.  Then we had a quick debriefing on how to get around the facilities and to best introduce ourselves.  Then we set out wielding our fact sheets and business cards in hopes of meeting with our elected officials.  (Appointments are rather difficult to get more than a few days in advance when the legislators are in session here in Springfield.  Their schedules are much more flexible while at the local offices, but then you don’t have the opportunity to see the legal process in action!)  For some, it was our first time to see the state legislature in session, since our fourth-grade field trip to the Capitol - or ever.  Others were able to help direct traffic because of their familiarity with the facility.  It was fascinating to sit in the gallery and observe the bills being debated and voted upon.  I can’t promise that every bill is exciting as the scenes in the recent movie Lincoln, but it is a tremendous learning experience nonetheless. 

I loved hearing so many great stories coming from those that participated in the experience.  It is great to have so many of us to share in the excitement of the day together.  Overwhelmingly, the experiences were quite positive in dealings with the staff as well as some who were able to meet with their legislators that day!  We hope to be sharing some of those success stories in the weeks ahead.  I expect that several of us will have the opportunity to continue these new relationships in the local offices in the months ahead.  As those relationships begin to flourish, we will have more capacity to help educate our legislators in the world of HR and offer our unique perspectives into how potential legislation can impact our businesses and our workforce.  My hope is that by this time next year we will have even more of us to help lead the way for the others who are joining the wave of Advocacy for the first time.  If you have an interest in getting involved

with your local legislators click here and we will get some basic information to you to help equip you to make an impact where you live and work.