As I took the first few sips from my coffee and the caffeine rushed to my brain, a thought crossed my mind…

There is a ton of career advice out there, but it’s usually only shared when it’s needed and, under most circumstances, it only applies to the particular scenario presented.  Rarely is the advisor simply asked, “What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?”

Wouldn’t this be the really good stuff?  Isn’t this the wisdom that propels people into successful careers and happier lives?

Having spent the majority of my career in recruiting, I’ve developed more than a few thoughts around this one, but I decided to run an experiment by asking my networks… to go fishing for those golden career nuggets that have made a difference for others.

Immediately after sending out the question on Twitter and Facebook, I started receiving responses… and a wide range of them.

Here are some of the responses:

Twitter

Zukx Ute Blindert

Never lunch alone!

JeffreyTMoore Jeff Moore

Remember that when people change jobs it’s one of the hardest and most important decisions they will make. Respect that.

JulianaPerez Juliana Perez

“Your lack of planning is not my emergency.” Rob Cary Pet Resort

TheIglooOven Jeff Phillips

Treat every job as though it is your most important

SupeRecruiter Morgan Hoogvelt

“Don’t seek money, seek greatness and the money will follow”

Megan_Calimbas Megan Calimbas

You alone are responsible for gaining the skills you need to succeed

SeanMcL216 Sean McLaughlin

That drive is the most important thing you can have.

troytoman Troy Toman

“You will never be given the perfect job. You have to make it.”

gctmadhumitha Madhumitha

Use social media in job search (LinkedIn) be careful about contents in Facebook, Recruiters search social media to reject candidates

Jess_SATX Jessica

Whatever you decide to do, be happy doing it!

recruitergirlMN Andraya N. Thompson

Go with your instincts. All the best decisions are made from the gut.

Facebook

Theresa Radford

By teaching others, you learn yourself – also fantastic life advice

Jackie Davis

Don’t be afraid to take risks – Someone very wise told me to have a backup plan that is totally realistic and that you’d enjoy, I said I’d be a waitress in a small town by the water somewhere, rent a tiny cottage, live minimally, read, do creative stuff & drink wine whenever I felt like it. Then she told me to think of that anytime you’re afraid of taking a risk and it will make it a whole lot easier It works like a charm.

Side note – Awesome advice Jackie!  Some of the best I’ve seen

Isidro Sid Gutierrez

Get a job son or get out!

Jon L Long

Do something you love and you will never work another day in your life.

Jess McCoss

Don’t take things personally – it’s BUSINESS.

Diane Skullr ‎

“Get a Job and be the BEST at it”

Andrea Lalinde

Accountability for my actions or lack of action.

Audrey Chernoff

My grandmother said to me many years ago, ok, no more career changes. That was about 17 changes ago. She was right.

Deb Bauder-Mamon

You are always replaceable with someone else.

Sue Webster

Stay out of recruiting!

Chris Hoyt

Chase your hunger, take your family, be honest no matter what and always follow through.

Lorrie Anne

Be impeccable with your word. Be flexible, willing to learn, and be genuinely nice to and interested in people – whether fellow employees or prospective clients. Always look at people in the eyes, and have a firm handshake.

Lisa Nordell Barber

From my “old school” daddy… Dress for the position you want instead of the one your in.

Shawn Johnson

Learn something new every day!

Sarah Wilson Gonzales

Sometimes you have to leave a job to grow personally and professionally. Don’t be afraid of change, embrace it and let it increase your value.

James Mayes

JFDI!

Jeff Gladish ‎

“The only one that can turn you down is yourself, everyone else just wants you to wait a little longer”

Jessica Hernandez

Keep a diary/log of all the ways your go above and beyond when it’s time for review/salary increase request. It’s so easy to forget all the ways you work hard day in and day out. If presented respectfully, and not like a martyr, it will definitely reveal to your boss/employer all that you do.

Jeanie Long

Have integrity.

Rayanne Thorn

To let go of your fears.

Kathy McAfee

Be passionate about what you do!

HireCentrix Karen

Go with your heart, do what you love, cause everything else will burn you out.

Christina Blair Bell

To go into HR….

Robin VanderGalien Eads

Don’t share too much of your personal business at work or with co-workers.

Heather Polivka

While others will guide, advise, and offer their expertise…You are the only one who is 100% accountable to manage your career.

Thanks to everyone who contributed their thoughts!

If you’ve ever worked a job in your life, you probably have an opinion on this topic.  Plain and simple, there’s a ton of perspectives out there on how to create, maintain and succeed in a career.  A simple search in the Amazon books section on “Career Advice” returns 16,765 results.  Popular for sure!

So, here’s what I took away from all the advice that came back.

1. Be passionate about what you do.
2. Don’t be afraid to take risks (have a plan B to help alleviate fear).
3. Be a stand-up kind of person.
4. You’re in charge.

Plain and simple, if you cover these three, you’re probably in great career shape!

I enjoyed this little crowdsourcing experiment.  It reminded me of some good points and I hope that you can take something away from it too.

If you didn’t have a chance to add your advice, I’d love to hear from you!

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

It wasn’t long ago when the playing field for finding a job was relatively simple.  For the most part (and I’m sure you can add a few), it consisted of the following:

• Resume – Make sure you check the spelling, the formatting is clean and the content is easy to follow.
• Interviewing Skills – You had to make sure that you could answer questions and keep your nerves under control.
• Professional Attire/Appearance – Clean suit, clean nails, no “I drank a keg of beer last night” eyes… you get the idea.
• Networking – Asking around and going to networking meetings to find potential contacts.
• Job Search – This had a lot to do with job boards and newspapers… posting resumes and searching for potential roles.

Nowadays, it’s a bit more complex to find a job.  Most of the “necessities” listed above continue to be true.  However, for someone who is really hungry to find a position, they are going to have to reinvent the way they handle both the Networking and Job Search approaches for finding their next role.  The great news is that keeping pace with the job search world also builds your resume…

Let’s consider some of these new areas and what a job seeker can do about it.

Social Media In Job Search

Facebook

• Spend some time completing your personal profile.  What you do, what you like… give your connections something to get interested in.
• Join some of the thousands (perhaps more) groups you will have to pick from on Facebook that relate to your career field.
• If you can identify causes, non-profits or fun initiatives that are of interest… do that too!  You never know who you’ll meet!
• If you really feel adventurous, consider a Social Ad campaign targeted at your ideal hiring managers.

Twitter

• If you still give a blank stare when someone mentions Twitter… go review the tutorial I put together for SHRM.
• Learn the concepts of Hashtags, @replies, Lists and ReTweets (RTs).
• Play around with tools like Twubs and TweetDeck… they will make your “Twitter Life” easier – I promise!
• Start attending TweetUps in your local area… or put one together!  They are the Nouveau Networking and a lot of fun!

LinkedIn

• Put the time, energy and effort into making this profile as professional and interesting as possible.
• For some companies, this has become the main (in some cases the only) way that they are finding candidates.
• Connect and join professional groups and get involved in the conversation.
• Answer polls and questions thrown out by strangers.
• Use the tool to study companies of interest.
• Look for past colleagues and start to rebuild your network… forget the Rolodex – LinkedIn will help you there!

Blogging

• I know it seems out there… but, it sure makes it easier to show what you know if you can blog about it somewhere.
• Great way to start or engage in conversations… share a link to a blog post that you wrote.
• Employers find people in a variety of ways – if they find you because you know what you’re talking about, that can only be to your benefit.
• It’s fun… that’s right, FUN!  Job search can be a drag sometimes, so mix it up and share a bit.  Who knows who you can help with what you already know.

YouTube

• It never hurts to introduce yourself first… so, why not make a video doing just that.  If you already started your blog, it could actually be a post with an embedded video!
• Explain your career field of choice, your ideal role, what inspires you… be yourself.
• YouTube is a massive search engine at this point… your video may show up the next time someone Googles your skill set.
• If you are tired of being judged simply based off of your resume… think about including your YouTube video link on your resume.

What exactly are we going to do about it?

I hate to see good people in the job market who don’t know what to do next.  There are some fantastic candidates who are absolutely lost with their efforts at this point.  This situation, in and of itself, creates a pretty substantial divide between those who are “in the know” and those who are not.  So, I just hope that we can help and as a result allow the best candidate to secure the job!

The list above is not meant to solve all of your job search problems, but hopefully it will get you started.  By the nature of technology, the person who this post was written for will probably come across it via email or through searching on Google.  If you found this due to Twitter or Facebook, you are probably already on board – consider helping a friend that has yet to take the leap and forward this posting to them.

What other techniques, methods or technologies would you recommend for someone who has yet to jump into social media job search world?  Your advice matters

Photo Credit, striatic

During the final session of #HRevolution, Mark Stelzner presented the point that the HR social media crowd tends to mainly reinforce our own enthusiasm…

AMEN!!!

The goal, the future… the (hold on tight) CHANGE that we are going to see in this space will only be driven forward by everyone embracing a sense of inclusion.  Our efforts to explore the latest and greatest social media tools should be balanced with our desires to bring in the soon-to-be adopters – perhaps the hesitant-to-be adopters.

So, why should we?

In my humble opinion, social media, as it applies to HR has two apparent benefits.

1. Talent Acquisition
2. Learning

Let’s look at this closer…

Talent Acquisition

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that companies can experience great benefit from engaging with their target talent markets within social media communities.  This approach reinforces like-mindedness and shared values… not to mention openness to accountability.  All values that will be increasingly important with potential candidates to your company.

The tools and manner in which companies are approaching candidates within social media is limitless.  Personally, I would advocate some balance and limits in this type of implementation – but, truth be told, every company will have to find their own style and approach.  Effort and energy aligned, it can be very successful!

Learning

The other great benefit for HR professionals in social media is the ability to learn and share with others within your professional space.  Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration!

Knowledge has never before been so easy to gain!  With thousands of HR peers currently socializing and sharing professional thoughts, you have a real opportunity to learn.  Jump in!

How Can We Move It Forward?

Getting started is simpler than you might think.  I’ve chronicled approaches in the past, but if I had to do so again (in a simple way), I would recommend at least starting up with Twitter to connect with HR pros.

So, here is a two-part step-by-step:

1. Go to Twitter – http://twitter.com
2. Set up your account – Choose a fun name!
3. Make sure you use a picture – a name with a face is important!
4. Make sure you put some thought behind your bio.

Now for connecting with others:

1. Perform searches for “HR”, “SHRM”, “HRevolution” and anything else that you think applies to your field.  If people include it in a Tweet (message sent out on Twitter), you can find it by searching from your Twitter home page.
2. Start following people who are interesting to you!
3. Ask questions and send out helpful Tweets.
4. Respond to people who Tweet interesting things!

These eight steps will not change everything… but, I can promise you that it will get your ball rolling forward.  If a more comprehensive explanation is desired, check out the video I put together for SHRM last year – a few things have changed with Twitter, but, for the most part, things are the same.

So, let’s get HR Tweeting!  Let’s, at the very least, expand the bubble!

How else would you recommend that we include the masses?

Photo Credit, Pink Sherbet Photography

There is little doubt that most organizations have a sincere desire to connect with their target talent markets.  They spend millions (perhaps billions) of dollars a year analyzing their potential candidates.

• How can we attract the right talent?
• How do we connect with our ideal candidates?

Social Media, for all its wonders, is not the “have all, end all” of candidate interaction.  In fact, if we were discussing this over coffee, you would find out quickly that I much prefer the balanced approach.  Embark on the path of learning the tools, but control the amount of time invested.  Build into it, don’t just decide one morning that it’s the only approach.

Before you jump at me with a sharp “Twitter changed my life!” lashing – let me clarify a bit more.

Social Media is an amazing place to be.  You can meet all kinds of great people, very quickly target and connect with like-minded individuals… and perhaps even discover new avenues for your journey that you had yet to uncover.  Unfortunately, and fortunately, it’s not the only way that a person can go about doing this.  My opinion, and this is only my opinion, is that a balance must be established.

Candidates are people who have wants, needs and desires.  They are attracted to and they interact in the communities of interest to them.  Social Media creates an opportunity for us to connect with them on a different level… in a place that they choose.

According to a recent study performed by CareerBuilder and Inavero, “The average job candidate spends more than five hours on social media sites each week; however, only one in five organizations indicated utilizing social networking as part of their recruiting strategy.”

Baby Steps Into Social Media

There are thousands of posts on what to do and what not to do if you want to get involved in recruiting within social media.  It’s actually quite overwhelming if you consider the huge amount of information.

With that said, the study clearly indicates that many organizations are holding back.  Perhaps it’s due to overall understanding, a perceived lack of ROI… there are many arguments for and against getting involved.

The bottom line, however, is that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the many other community driven sites are here.  They are growing and they are catching on faster and faster by the day.  You don’t have to change your recruiting approach over night… but, I sure wouldn’t want to be the guy/gal who wakes up in five years to realize that one vital piece of the established recruiting approach had been entirely ignored.

So, get started… even if that means baby steps.  My advice, for what it’s worth, is the following:

1. LinkedIn – Set up your account with a complete profile.  Join some groups and occasionally jump in the conversation.  Perhaps create a survey based on what your candidates want, need and desire.  Be a presence.
2. Twitter – Find a picture you like, create a 160 character bio and set up your Twitter account.  Don’t worry about it being confusing at first… it will be that way for a while.  Check out my free video tutorial I created for SHRM on getting started and perhaps pick up a copy of Twitterville.
3. Facebook – Picture, bio, likes/dislikes in bio format.  Join some groups… interact.  If you are feeling really adventurous, go post a job using their social ad system.  On the bottom of your profile, you will see a little link that says “advertising”.  I personally recommend doing an “impressions” campaign… it’s cheap and you will get your feet wet with very little expense.

I love blogging and I think it’s a great tool… but, the time commitment is a bit much for some people.  For the time being, just work at understanding how the above tools can impact your recruiting efforts.  If you want to start playing around with blogging, check out RecruitingBlogs.com – try your hand at sharing your knowledge.  Be creative, think like your target candidates… see where you get.  Later, you can add other tools to the mix and really start building out a comprehensive targeting strategy.

Step 1 is to begin the process.  Whatever your organization decides to do, it’s a great opportunity for you to improve your skill set (yes, these tools are appearing on resumes now) and to discover what all the buzz is about.  Besides, we’d love to see you out there!

If you would like to connect with me out on one of the above mentioned sites, here are links for you to connect:

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

The bottom line is just get started.  Try it… Twitter doesn’t bite

For those of you already involved in the realm, what baby steps would you recommend?  Any must-dos for those who have yet to take the leap into the world of social media?

For those who have yet to get started… I’m curious to know what has held you back?  Perceived complexity, time, clear ROI?  I’m interested.

Photo Credit, stargazr441

It’s going to be a very busy and exciting next few weeks!

During the week of August 16th – 22th, I will be attending Disney Institute in Orlando, FL to take an up close and personal look at their “Business Excellence” program.  This five-day program is packed with topics ranging from “Training and Career Management” to “Creating Engagement and Commitment.”  If that weren’t enough, a number of friends will be coming along for the journey.  Alicia Arenas, Mark Stelzner, Mike VanDervort and a few others who are in the confirmation process.

On the 17th of August, I will be sitting on a panel at HR Florida with an amazing crew of bloggers for “Blogging and HR: Can the Two Peacefully Coexist?” Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee, Laurie Ruettimann, Sharlyn Lauby and Mike VanDervort will all be a part of this exciting panel!

Back to Disney for class and then out the door again on August 19th for a session that I’ll be giving at HR Florida called “Twitter for HR & Recruiting”.  I’ve put together a packed session for the group about how to do everything from starting up with Twitter to how one goes about attracting a targeted candidate pool.  It ought to be fun!

Back to Disney for the remainder of the class and then home to San Antonio, TX the following Sunday.

On Monday the 24th, I leave for Chicago, IL to speak at the Skilled Recruiters Network event about Red Shoe Project.  RSP is a huge passion of mine and I’m really excited to have the opportunity to share more about the project.  Special thanks to Veronica Ludwig for making it happen!

So, why am I telling you all this?  There is a method to my madness, I promise.

At Disney, HR Florida and during the Skilled Recruiters Network event, I’m going to be blogging and live-tweeting (the act of sending out messages on Twitter while events are occurring… for the record).  That’s right… you may even see pictures of Mickey in real time!  So, if you have questions that you’d like me to be on the lookout for, let me know.  If you just want to see what kind of shenanigans I’m getting into, that’s okay as well!

My Twitter account can be found at http://twitter.com/theredrecruiter – Feel free to send me a message by starting your “Tweet” with @theredrecruiter.  I will get your message and do my best to respond to your questions.

So, what would you like to get out of my next few weeks?  I’m attaching the brochure for the Disney Institute program that we’ll be attending.  Lots of topics to ponder… that’s for sure!

Disney Institute – “Business Excellence”

Photo Credit, lrargerich

This past week, I had the great privilege of visiting with a large group of recruiters in Southern California for the inaugural BarCamp Recruit event in Newport Beach, CA.

Gretchen Benes and Chrisa Mott conceived of the event after attending something similar for the Real Estate industry.  In summary, it was an unconference for recruiters that had a pretty intense focus on the use of social media.  Topics ranged from SEO to Twitter Best-Practices.  For the participants, it was a jam-packed day of valuable information!

Gretchen and Chrisa threw an excellent event!  Keep your eyes open for a BarCamp Recruit close to you… it’s coming!

The more I travel the country and meet recruiters, the more I enjoy teaching about how social media is becoming a force in the area of recruitment and HR.  Perhaps it’s because the more time that passes, the more the topic becomes relevant.  iStrategyLabs just reported last week that Facebook is trending to pass Google in unique visits per month by September… do you know what this means for the recruitment industry?  Are you planning to embrace this change?

During the training at BarCamp Recruit, I said to the group that any recruiter who does not familiarize themselves with social media over the course of the next two years will be a dinosaur.  I meant it.  In fact, in retrospect, I should have said “over the course of the next year” – it would have made more sense.

No one can deny that this little phenomenon that we refer to as social media is growing.  I just wonder if people realize how fast it’s growing.  And, it’s not just about Facebook.  Think about how many people are adopting Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging… just to name a few routes for social interaction online.  Are you improving your recruiting game as it applies to these tools?  How?

So, what does this all mean and how can a recruiter start to make sense of this online frenzy?

Here are a few suggestions…

Getting Started In Social Media

1. Decide on an available user ID – This should help… http://www.usernamecheck.com
2. Register your accounts (at least Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr)
3. Put together a short and interesting bio that you can use across multiple sites… be consistent.
4. Go have 50 pictures taken of yourself and pick one that you like… make sure your face is central.
5. Edit your pictures in http://picnik.com – Great for cropping pictures to the necessary size for social media.
6. Start being curious… poke around, read what people say and how they interact online.
7. Read a few blogs that have to do with social media from general and recruiting specific perspectives… here are some:

• Chris Brogan – Lots of valuable information on approach, strategy and processes
• Mashable – Lots of nitty-gritty on the tools (good for if you’d like to be “in the know”)
• Boolean Black Belt – Constant exploration of sourcing topics… very valuable information
• (Feel free to drop your suggestions in the comments… there are many great sources, but I’m blanking at the moment.)

Social media should not consume your life.  Perhaps it’s our natural curiosity – we love knowing what’s going on.  When we get that first sweet taste of being informed all the time… it can be a bit intoxicating.  You’ll ultimately do whatever you’d like… just remember that it’s important to balance the online with the off.  Spend time away from the computer and develop a fresh perspective.  It will make you that much more interesting when you return to exchange thoughts with your online friends.

Do Something About Social Media

No one is expecting that you are going to wake up tomorrow and be a super-savvy social media user.  However, you are going to be expected, over the next year (or more), to have a grasp on this topic.  If you are banking on it being a fad… wake up!  It may change and evolve, but it’s not going away.  Getting familiar with how things work will only benefit you and your career.

What did I leave out?  What would you suggest for an HR pro or Recruiter who is just starting out?

I always like getting involved with fun projects… perhaps because I like to have fun.  I like to laugh, smile… you know, enjoy life.  Some people roll their eyes at this idea, and to you… I’m sorry.  But, there is a way that we can all be a bit happier.

A Tweet (a message on Twitter) came through saying that it was National Smile Week from July 19th – July 24th.  This blog post talks about it.  I don’t know if it’s true or not – honestly, I don’t care.  It seems like fun, so I’ll do it.

This is somewhat of a Twitter challenge of sorts, but it would go like this…

Do one thing to make someone smile this week and send out a Tweet saying what you did.  Tomorrow, I will buy a complete stranger a cup of coffee at Starbucks.  Big deal, no.  Will it make them smile, hopefully.  Will it make me smile, yes.

So, to share it with everyone, you just want to make sure that you include the hashtag #smileweek in your Tweet.  This would be an example:

“Just bought a guy named Bob a cup of coffee at Starbucks. He smiled. #smileweek”

“Just picked up the tab for a young couple at Chile’s.  They smiled. #smileweek”

“Brought lunch to a man that lives outside of our building. #smileweek”

“Bought my wife flowers and delivered them to her office. #smileweek”

Just think of all the possibilities!

Have fun!  Spread the smiles and let us know how it’s going!

If you’d like to monitor the hashtag line, Twubs is very handy for this.  Go to the following URL:

http://twubs.com/smileweek

If you have yet to set up an account on Twitter, take advantage of the Twitter Essentials training on my site.  You’ll be telling us how you made someone smile in no time!

What are you going to do for Smile Week?  Are you in?

Photo Credit, 1HappySnapper

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Jack Welch‘s speech today at the SHRM conference.  Let’s face it… it’s Jack Welch – it wasn’t cheap for SHRM to get him here.  With that cost comes a set of pretty high expectations from an HR crowd that has undoubtedly gone through a bit of a financial rough patch of late.

The conference started out with a bunch of lights… a typical New Orleans style band… and, of course, a few speeches (one of which came from the new CEO of SHRM Lon O’Neil).

Finally, Jack Welch was introduced.  The style of delivery chosen was a Q&A session… which I found to be pretty interesting.  Instead of a “talk at you” set-up, they went the informal conversation route – a good idea I thought.

I frantically Tweeted throughout the entire speech.  Little tidbits offered by a person that is arguably one of the most influential figures in business today.

When all was said and done, I headed outside to ponder what I had just listened to.  Trying to wade through the thick list of business-appropriate messages, I was left with two that stood out above the rest.

Control

Take control of your career.  Take control of your strategic position within your organization.  Take control of the message that your company is sharing.  As an HR professional, quit laying down and taking it.  Pushing paper should not be your forte – but, you are going to have to put your foot down first.

HR is an extremely important function within organizations today, but the professionals that dedicate to it have been pushed to the back.  It’s time to grab the bull by the horns and make your voice heard.

Trust

Trust was a bit different and I loved it!  Selfishly, I liked it because it reinforced some of the thoughts that I have been sharing over the past few months.  I also enjoyed it because he delivered it as a warning more than as a random piece of advice.

Jack stressed that companies are changing.  The ability to attract talent in the future will be tougher because the focus is going to be heavily placed on an organization’s ability to provide something different, fun… engaging!  Our ideas on good work environments and engaging professional pursuits are going to be tossed on their heads.  We have to give employees something more than stability… we have to give them a place that they enjoy hanging out at.  A place that will open their minds and undoubtedly shoot for their hearts.  This will be the future of talent engagement.

He also stressed communication and how it ties in to trust.  Jack said to forget about creating messages for different tracks… the media, in-house, customers, etc… you are who you are.  People will see through and distrust companies that can not be open and consistent.

Ha!  Sounds an awful lot like the social media dialogue…

Trust, consistency… what makes someone stand out in social media is the very model that will make companies stand out going forward.  As HR professionals, Jack is challenging you to confront the status quo and to get interested in the message.  Step up!

So… that’s it.  That’s what I took away from Jack Welch.  As for the investment to have him at the conference, I think it was worth it.  If 5% of that room left with a better sense of the future, I think that the fee will be paid back 10 fold over the next few years.

Now I’m off to wander the streets of New Orleans for a bit.  This “Live Blogging” thing feels like a big responsibility… so, I’m taking as many pictures as possible and posting them to my Twitter page.

What did you take away from hearing Jack Welch?  Do you disagree?  Speak up… this should be a dialogue.

The annual SHRM conference is right around the corner and I’m getting pretty excited about the whole thing.  For starters, I’ve never been to a SHRM Annual Conference… sounds so official and important!  I’m sure that it’s going to be great.

SHRM has issued me a press pass for this year’s event, so I will be “live blogging” during my visit.  I’m not really sure what it means to “Live Blog,” but I’m kind of hoping to just wander around most of the time and find things that wouldn’t normally be talked about.  That’s my plan anyway…

So, I’m going to be blogging, making some videos and (OF COURSE) sending out messages via Twitter on the #SHRM09 hashtag line.

About three weeks ago, SHRM asked me to put together a training video on the basics of Twitter.  I had the privlege of providing China Gorman (COO of SHRM) some tips and hints on the topic, so it seemed natural to take it a step further.

Some of you that are reading this probably know Twitter like the back of your hand.  However, a number of you, your friends and your colleagues do not.  I’m not saying that Twitter is for everyone… but, it is pretty awesome once you learn how to use the tool!

I spent some time putting together a 20 minute crash course on how someone should get started.  By the time you are finished, you will have a complete and functioning profile on Twitter.  You will also understand the basic communication methods employed and how you can go about searching for particular topics of interest.

Here you go!

Twitter Essentials – Part I & II

Have fun, be good and I’ll see you on Twitter!

Very special thanks to Josuee Lope for his help getting these videos to function on my site!  If you aren’t already following him on Twitter… you should be!  He is an IT Wizard with a great personality!  Thank you Josuee!

Photo Credit, SashaW

The world is changing fast and so is the way that we push for social change.  Processes for spreading an ideal have been pretty consistent over time… one person tells another who tells another – grassroots!

So, what happens when we eliminate the time and distance between us?  What happens to social movements when the click of a mouse translates into mass awareness?  No longer do we live in a world where messages, despite their value or worth, go unnoticed.

Social media is one of the truest democracies of thought awareness that we’ve ever witnessed… and you thought Twitter was silly.

#IranElection

So… if you are on Twitter, you may have noticed something interesting in the trends lately.  With the chaos over the elections in Iran, many protesters have chosen Twitter as the social media platform of choice to help spread the message.  To deliver updates, they are including the hashtag #IranElection in their messages.

We are learning about the events in Iran via what people on the ground have to Tweet about it!

Even if you are staying away from Twitter for the time being, I would recommend that you take a look at the conversation by monitoring the flow of information.  I have found Twubs to be very useful for this purpose.

It’s an amazing display of how connected we really are.

#Green4Iran

In a show of support for those in Iran who are protesting for change, people have started altering their avatars to the color green.  This has created something that resembles a tribe of Jolly Green Giants all over Twitter.  When you look at the #IranElection hashtag, you will see what I mean.

To join in, I would recommend heading over to Picnik.  There, you can easily adjust your photo to give it that nice green tint.  Here are the simple instructions.

1. Navigate to www.picnik.com
2. Upload your profile picture by pressing “Upload a photo”
3. Press the “Crop” button
4. Crop your picture to 295 x 295
5. Press the”Create” tab on the top
6. Select “Effects”
7. Scroll down to “Tint”
8. Pick a shade of green that works for you
9. Click “Save & Share”
10. Now upload your picture to your profile in Twitter

Small Acts That Change The World

Changing your profile picture to green will not, in itself, change the world.  However, thousands upon thousands of green pictures… well, perhaps something can be accomplished.

I’m not an in-your-face political kind of guy.  I value differences in opinion and love healthy dialogue.  However, it’s become increasingly apparent that I am like this and that I enjoy the healthy dialogue because I live in a country where I can do just that.  If my ability to fairly cast a ballot were to be removed… well, that’s a different matter.  I suppose I would then rely on my right to bear arms…

I show support for those in Iran because I believe in the democratic ideal.  Together we vote, together we decide.

Social media is changing the world.  Are you ready to participate?

Photo Credit, Daveybot