Staffing Managment Association of Greater Chicago Pledges Support to ESGR in 2011

The Staffing Management Association of Greater Chicago is kicking off their year by signing a Statement of Support for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). Currently there are more than 1.3 million in the National Guard and Reserve and our pledge recognizes the essential strength they provide to our nation and the well-being of our communities. SMAGC is committed to helping these men and women return to their job or find a new job as they return for their military duty.


Our signing ceremony will be taking place on January 20th at Maggiano's in Chicago at 8:30AM, in conjunction with a panel discussion on Military Talent Programs. Moderated by Thomas L. Aiello, Sears Holdings, Division Vice President, Public Relations, we will invoke conversation on how to best implement sourcing, interviewing strategies and retention solutions to better assist those transitioning from the military duty into the civilian workforce.

Panelists include:
• Marjorie James, Volt Workforce Solutions, President of Hire America’s Heroes’ and Program Manager at Volt Military
• Anthony Kaylin, IBM, Global EO Programs Manager, Global Diversity
• Vincent W. Patton, III, Ed.D., Military Advantage/Monster Worldwide, Director of Community Outreach

Discussion topics will include:

• Sourcing from this Highly Skilled Talent Pool – How do you find the best and brightest to meet your needs.
• Recruiting —How to identify military professionals ready to transition to the civilian workforce and effectively interview to ensure a good match.
• Retaining —The unique concerns that military professionals face adapting to the civilian workplace, how to link veterans’ long-term interests to their new civilian employer, and concerns about hiring veterans.
• Translating Culture and Values—How to best bridge the differences between military and nonmilitary characteristics, concepts, terminology, technical and leadership skills.

Join us as we work together, SMAGC, ESGR and the Employers in the Chicagoland Area, make a positive impact our community and the lives of our Citizen Warriors and most importantly, their families, who support their service.

To learn more about SMAGC and register for this event, go to www.smagc.org To keep abreast of our 2011 events and initiatives , follow us on Twitter @SMAGC and like our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/smagc

Chloe Rada - Chapter President at Staffing Management Association (SMA) of Greater Chicago

Changes for 2011 - New Contributors to IL SHRM Site

It is the year’s end and at Illinois SHRM just like at many other volunteer organizations personnel changes usually take place around this time of year. At the top we have a new incoming State Director – Donna Rogers. We also have a new Director Elect Cathy Plouzek, and we have the outgoing, Past State Director John Jorgensen. While we have a number of personnel changes we also have some folks like your truly are hanging around for another year or two.


One of the things that I am going to do next year is add some new voices to this blog site. For the most part, postings so far, have come from me, Dave Ryan, the Director of the Social Media for the State Council. Having looked around at other sites and other organization I have invited more folks who are involved with SHRM here in Illinois to be contributors and give new and varied content  in regards to  what is going on in the World of Human Resources.

The three folks mentioned earlier, John, Donna and Cathy all have agree to generate 4 to 5 posts for next year. In addition to the IL SHRM executive gang, we have lined up IL SHRM’s membership director and all around great guy Jeff Williams to our crew. Jeff currently writes at his own blog site HDLeader. Our Director of Marketing and Communication Heather Hammitt will also be contributing to our blog site.

To another prospective, from the staffing portion of Human Resources, Chloe Rada, The President of Staffing Management Association of Greater Chicago will be a regular contributor to the site.

We have been fortunate to grab two more contributors who have been instrumental in creating a new SHRM chapter in the Metro East area. We are thrilled to have Trish McFarlane who regularly blogs at HRRingleader, and her co-conspirator Chris Frede who also has her own site, HRBouy, as regular contributors for 2010.

So if I go back and count up the bolded names I see nine names listed. The plan was to have 12 regular contributors. So if my math still works I need three more regular contributors. Please let me know if you would be interested in contributing.

In addition to the weekly contributions, we plan to be presenting guest posts from upcoming conference speakers, and others who are present on the HR scene. So be looking for exciting thing coming from this the Illinois State Council of SHRM and this site next year.
- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media Illinois State Council of SHRM