Archive for June, 2010

A courageous story!

Last night on Compassionate HR, Rick Lipman and I discussed his book “Don’t Despair, Cleft Repair.” Karen, Rick and their son Brandon are reaching out to the global community to raise awareness, and offer support to other parents. I wondered what it must be like when those children come of age, and enter the workforce. I made me think about how people with disabilities are treated during the hiring process, and on-boarding process? What it is like for them in the workplace? My friends, Gerry Crispin and Dave Mendoza developed a survey in April to discover trends about the candidate experience of disabled people. We all know the ADA has guidelines, and the EEOC has laws governing this issue. But, what is it really like for a person with a facial deformity the workplace? How do they feel when they are job hunting?   First, they are not invisible, and they can hear you.

I spoke with Brandon Lipman, the subject of last night’s show, and he suggested the following:

1. Don’t Stare– See the person not the disability.
2. Communicate: don’t be afraid to engage.  It’s better to ask questions and get accurate information, rather than making assumptions.
3. Keep the lines of communication open among follow employees.
4. Educate your staff: include the issue of physical birth defects into your diversity and inclusion training programs.
5. Treat the person just as you would any other employee.

Brandon is wise beyond his years.  He authored to book “My Puzzling Smile,” when he was in grade school.  He is young advocate for people with cleft lip, and his work is making a difference worldwide.   He made a very insightful comment during our interview, ” often the disability is your attitude.”  It might be time to check your misconceptions at the door.  I highly recommend the Lipman’s book, to Human Resources professionals.  At this point, I have more questions than I do answers.  I hope to interview more people about this topic, and to learn more about the candidate experience.    Our workplaces will be more humane when we treat people with differences with the respect they deserve.

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Andrew McAfee’s book: “Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools For Your Organization’s Toughest Challenges,” brilliantly explains the definition, history of emerging the technology of new media.  He coined the term “Enterprise 2.0″ in an effort to describe how companies could harness the power of intranets, extranets, and social networking platforms.  You don’t have to be a technology wonk to understand this book, in fact, he makes this knowledge accessible to the novice and expert a like.

Enterprise 2.0 has 4 main purposes:

1. To give an overview of new technology based communities such as, blogs, Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, wikis, prediction markets, and the PageRank algorithm. describes social bookmarks,  and social networking software.
2. To  describe what what the available technologies are, and how they can be used to achieve your organization’s goals.
3. To show how enterprise 2.0 brings people together to interact.  McAfee discusses the patterns and structure of web and enterprise 2.0, and how they appear over time.
4. To provide guidance about how to succeed over time–he illustrates 4 case studies as examples of how organizations have deployed and generated results.

Andrew McAfee does an excellent job of providing guidance about how to succeed with enterprise 2.0.  What I liked most about this book are its in-depth case studies.  His critiques and analysis is easy to understand.   If you are new to enterprise 2.0, and want to learn more about its innovative capabilities, this book is for you.

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Chris Brogan, Author of Trust Agents, Guest on Compassionate HR

Tonight I had the distinct honor to have Chris Brogan on my blogtalkradio show: Compassionate HR.  Many people know him as an international key note speaker, author, and social media superstar.  How many of you know that he mobilizes his readers to support incredible charities that help the homeless, feed the hungry, and support the education of disadvantaged women and children in third world countries.  Yes, he uses social media for social action, and social good.  Few people can motivate millions of readers to get involved in philanthropic efforts they way Brogan can.  His call to action is strong, and visible each month on his blog.  Behind the scenes, he offers free advice to struggling not-for-profit organizations to help them boost their digital foot print.  Here are a few of the causes he supports:

Skipl.org This organization encourages people to “skip your lunch,” so children don’t have to–one can not only skip their lunch for charity, one can pledge the money they spend each week on their lattes, car washes, or fancy dinners, and feed hungry families instead.  According to their website:

We skip because we can.
We skip because 1/6th of the Earth’s population is undernourished – more than ever before!
We skip because 25,000 people die every day from hunger and related causes.
We skip because every 6 seconds a child dies of hunger and related causes.
We skip something because the world needs our help.

Donate to Skip1.org. Skip something. Feed a child.

Skip1.org taps into the world’s wealth to bring food and water to children and families in need around the world. Public donations go to the acquisition and distribution of food and water projects worldwide

Brogan also brings visibility to the invisible homeless people nation-wide. InsvisiblePeople.tv/blog Invisible people makes visible the homeless people who fall between the cracks.  Their stories must be told, and he does just that on his blog.  His Vlog captures the essence of the suffering homeless people face each day.  Did you know that every night more than 1 million sleep without a roof over their heads.  The National Alliance to End Homelessness says that 80% of individuals and 90% of families are homeless because of economic hardship.   After viewing on of his stories recorded on his site, he encourages viewers to write their comments on his vlog, email the story to a friend, and raise awareness about the plight. By keeping the dialogue open we can help the “forgotten people.”  After all, people are not disposable. I encourage you to visit this site, hear the storyies, and get involved.

Chris also raises awareness for Kiva.org.  Kiva provides loans that chance lives, and connect people to eliminate poverty.  According to Kiva: “Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.” Kiva promotes dignity, accountability, and transparency.

In addition Chris encourages his readers to support small grassroots efforts: Mothers Fighting for Others.  ”Mothers Fighting For Others provides orphaned girls with a loving and nurturing environment and a quality education, so they can learn, thrive and achieve their highest potential.”  Brogan partners with Beth Kanter at BethKanter.org, a nationally recognized author, and speaker who educates non-profit organizations how to tap into social media platforms to increase their digital footprint, and raise funds in an effective and inexpensive manner.

After speaking to Chris this evening, I am inspired to write about a charitable organization each month to encourage grass roots action.  Our show is available to listeners in the blogtalkradio archive click here to listen. You can help these organizations by clicking on one of the share buttons below.

Each of us can do our part to take action to make our world a better place.

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Information overload.  Do you ever feel like your head is going to explode from the onslaught of emails, blog posts, twitter, facebook, linkedin, news updates, event and webinars invitations? Information bombs expode on our desks, computers, and mail boxes. It’s enough to boggle the mind.  Discerning minds want to prioritize, and assess what they want to read.  Critical thinkers want to manage their time, and swiftly assess and be rid of intellectual clutter.  Great thinkers already know how to do this.  However deciding how much time to spend online, reading books, periodicals, industry reports, and inbox materials is often a challenge.   Daily we are faced with important matters.  There is information that is nice to know, but the information we need to know demands our attention.

I am a voracious reader, daily I read several hundred blogposts a day.  I used to teach a speed reading course in the 90′s.  In 1994, I was introduced to the Internet.  Fondly I remember gopher and netscape.  I’ve been obsessed with the power of knowledge sharing ever since.  As an early adopter of the world wide web, I remember bulletin boards.  I believe that was the earliest adaptation of social media.  People around the world began communicating.  Scholarly periodicals and education, support group communities, and business networking groups proliferated cyberspace.  This period of time influenced what I know today.  Admittedly, I am self taught when it comes to digital communication on the open web.  While I have an advanced degree, everything I know I learned as an early adopter of Internet technology.

Last year, I raised the bar by establishing an online community of HR and Recruiting professionals.  I built a community of job seekers, decided to introduce them to my contact network because I was bored with #FollowFriday.  Quickly, I realized there was a better way to make meaningful connections that could make a difference in the lives of people in the midst of a career transition.  As the founder, and community manager of HireFriday, I was determined to improve the way we introduce our contacts to one another.  Concomitantly, I realized that too much information is risky.  It jeopardizes our priorities.  It is in this spirit that I plan to share new ways to maximize the time you spend sorting through the information before your eyes

The next series of posts will point my readers to the tools I use to prevent social media overload.  It is refreshing to shut down the computer and pick up a great business book, get your hands inky from reading a great newspaper, and delving into the classics.  As I present present my social media reading list, and book reviews it is my intention to enrich your intellectual capital, and further your professional development.

The first book I will review is “Enterprise 2.0,” by McAfee, pulbished by Harvard Press.  Steve Boese suggested this book to me this year.  It is brain food, and will certainly open your eyes.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will introduce you to a book that has both depth, and substance.

Your online pal,

@HRMargo Rose

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HRMargo Social Media HR Evangelist

It’s Friday. TGIF if you are gainfully employed. Have you considered what Friday is like for an unemployed friend? A friend who has a family to feed, and a mortgage to pay?  It’s thank goodness it’s HireFriday, with a little help from my contact network, I might get an interview next week. It’s so easy to give a helping hand. Jobseekers everywhere rely on referrals from their friends, colleagues and business associates. I created this grassroots movement on twitter, facebook and linkedin to give jobseekers visibility. These social platforms don’t need another job board. What we need is kind people like you to encourage your unemployed friends, and family members to introduce themselves to our growing community. I encourage jobseekers to think like a recruiter when embarking on their search.

This past week, Huffington Post published an article about organizations who post job advertisments, stating they will only hire people who are employed. In hindsight, the bad publicity via bloggers went viral, and it sparked an outrage in the HR & Recruiting community. Companies that will only consider the employed population are missing out on a wealth of talent. I will address this issue in a future post.

As a community, HireFriday participants can be a force of good will. We can offer jobseekers exposure to our followers, contacts, and friends. The world is filled with positive, upbeat people who are committed to being helpful, generous, and kind. Encourage the jobseekers you know to post their linkedin profile to the HireFriday page on facebook, join our brand new group on linkedin, and tweet on their behalf. Better yet, empower them to introduce themselves to our community. Tweet your: @name/jobdesired/industry/location/keywords. Post your resume or linkedin profile in the #HireFriday twitter stream, and on the HireFriday fan page.

What started as an alternative to FollowFriday on twitter has mushroomed into a global community of jobseekers, recruiters, HR professionals, and business people from all industries. HireFriday is taking off in the UK and in Canada. It’s an easy way to pay it forward. Today, my thoughts are with unemployed Americans, disabled candidates, and military veterans who are struggling. It doesn’t cost a dime to be kind.

I’ve established guidelines for HireFriday, and I encourage you to read this post, and paying it forward by sharing it with your contacts. Together, we can put people back to work. Passion is not what you do, it’s what you are. If you do what you love, it is a gift. Jobseekers have the unique opportunity to brand themselves in an exciting new way. Use HireFriday as a jumping board to launch the new you.

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