Okay, so it’s one thing to have a seat at the table – many of us are there, and eating our cookies. Having a seat isn’t where I’m going with bringing the sexy back to HR though. What’s severely missing is what I will simply call “the cool factor” for HR. Really – name five people you know who think HR and the work we do is “cool.” I’m waiting! I’m not sure you could even sucker your grandma into putting your name on the list.
There are a few different contributing factors to the image problem we face, and some solutions that
come to mind – so let me try to take a stab at this…
1. We have to rid the term “personnel” from the business lexicon. It’s no better than the term “secretary.” And for that matter, I don’t even really like the term “human resources” either. It’s about being strategic business partners, and being relentless when it comes to developing/managing people and talent. I would love to hear someone say, “I want to be a chief talent officer when I grow up!” Just the ring of that! Wow! Versus, “I want to be a personnel administrator when I grow up!”
2. Anyone who’s ever heard the words, “You aren’t like most HR people I know”, it is your obligation to give back and show how and why HR is cool. You have to stand up and be a role model. You have to be a better advocate and educator for our profession – and this includes delving into the academic world. Let me ask you this — have you ever stepped into a class of college students to share with them what it means to you to be an HR pro? Do you mentor anyone right now? ‘Nuff said.
3. SHRM has to be a part of this equation, but they are in desperate need of a makeover. They need to re-brand themselves which in effect would help to re-brand the profession itself. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, SHRM is a force to reckon with – they have millions in their reserves from your dues. I’m not sure HR can be made cool or sexy without them though. They definitely need to hire some help in this area though – outsource the re-brand and image overhaul. #3 ties back to #2 too. As individuals, we can get into classrooms or mentor aspiring chief talent officers, but SHRM is the institution, and it is in their mission to advance to HR profession. They’ve got the resources to create and influence academic curriculum. We can’t do this without them.
4. HR needs to get interactive and communicate better. HR teams need blogs, e-newsletters and whatever the next great web 2.0 or 3.0 tool is. We should be shameless self-promoters. We need to communicate more, and communicate better in order for people to understand what we really do, how we do it, and why we do what we do. Talking isn’t enough though – the communication has to be flawless and aesthetically pleasing.
5. If you believe that employment law is the foundation for your work, then this isn’t the right field for you. Go to law school and be an employment law attorney. You’re making HR very unsexy for me. Let’s distance ourselves from employment law as the foundation of what we do. Sure, it won’t go away, but let’s not attach ourselves too closely to it being the guiding force for why we do what we do.
So could any of this help to bring the sexy back? I think it’s a starting point. Again, for me, this isn’t about getting a seat at the table and making HR more strategic – a lot of us are already there and doing just fine. This is about making HR sexy and cool.
Other thoughts? Comment, please. Go ‘head be gone with it!
I think you hit the nail on the head in so many ways! Not only is recruiting not sexy anymore we are also thought to be the daft individuals who can’t do anything but recruit. The worst part is that recruiting is not an easy 40 hour a week job! In fact, anyone who is a truly “good” recruiter is always available to talk to that top/stellar candidate. Just last night I took a call from an engineer who works for one of my company’s #1 competitors as she did not have time to talk for nearly 5 days as she was working on a deadline. She called me at 8pm last night on my mobile phone to get clarification on our employment application as she wanted to make sure she was presenting herself at best. I do this all the time as that is part of recruiting. She is in the TOP 10% in my opinion of candidates. I contacted her and she was not looking for a job at all, so I need to make sure she knows how much I value her time too.
Another problem in recruiting is the recruiters that do not understand the requisition they are trying to fill. I have had probably more than 10 engineers in the last year complain to me that they were getting calls about positions constantly that were vastly different from what they do and they basically were shocked to learn I understood what they did. It’s really no better than a data entry clerk applying for a posting of ours that is for a DBA/Systems Analyst SQL programming role. How many times as recruiters have we complained about the resumes we are getting from postings? I sure wish recruiters would take this into consideration before they pick up the phone to call a C++ Developer about a System Administrator position. I cringe every time an engineer tells me a story like this as this is what makes ALL recruiters look bad!
Jessica
Awesome. Almost fell of my chair laughing when I read #5. So true!!!
Ryan, I feel a little bit the opposite, maybe it’s just the third party folk but I feel like recruiting is v. sexy, it’s HR that needs a bit of an overhaul. Well now I’ve gone and started a fight. . .
ryan – no doubt. it’s like a back-handed compliment when a candidate tells me that much to their surprise, i understand a req or the company so well. getting passive candidates hooked is that much harder because of the dingdong recruiters out there.
maren – you got some beef with me? just kidding. yes… of all the unsexy facets of HR, recruiting is the most sexy. wait, is that a back-handed compliment too? and if you’re 3rd party, it’s most definitely easier to separate yourself from our ugliness – lucky for you. not that i’m saying 3PR’s are completely without warts…
JLee -
I liked your thoughts on how to make the function more attractive a lot. Here’s my top couple of things I would focus HR branding on:
1. Recruiting – I’d like to see a day where every exempt HR pro had at least 30% of their job in recruiting. Talent acquisition is where the brand change would happen…
2. Performance Management consulting – can you lead a division through a PM process? That’s a value add plus consulting 101….
3. Communications – HR as a PR/bootstrap advertising firm… Nice…
Of course, the other work still has to get done, but I’d start by emphasizing these areas…
PS to Maren and Ryan. Different roles and different people/issues for the most part, but HR and recruiting both suffer from the reputations of their lowest performing segments…..
Here’s a thought. Some of the best recruiters would make great HR people. And some of the best HR pros could hang with the best recruiters. It seems to be a merge that makes a lot of sense to me…
I agree with much of your post and the comments. Additionally, I think it would help is all HR folks had some “sales” in them. It is what we do, regardless of what aspect we are in. We sell the benefit program, we sell the company to the candidate, we sell that training is important, and we sell that following the law it the proper and expiedient thing to do.
I agree we need to be self promoters. I am amazed by the number of times people tell me they don’t know what a blog is or they don’t have time to read them. But at the same time I am encouraged by how rapidly that is changing.
One thing I disagree with you on is the employment law aspects. We don’t need attorneys in HR. We need people who know the law and know how to balance that with “people” issues. Lawyers don’t approach like that.
Just my 2 pennies worth.
Wrong! My grandma TOTALLY thinks my job is COOL! (one down, four more to go … )
Mike H. -
Really like the sales add to this… Good call….
KD
I understand and agree with most comments here but what I am always confused about is the recruitment agencies thinking they are out to replace HR! HR is not only “Staffing/Recruiting/Hiring/Sourcing” – whatever you want to call it. It is about (as has already been said) talent management, continuous employee leadership and development, compensation planning, employee relations,and YES it does have to be done from the basis of employment law OR your organization is not going to remain operating in a compliant and successful manner for very long. Reputational risk skyrockets (a.k.a. you open yourself up to being sued and hope to goodness it doesnt get out into the papers) the minute you think you can operate outside of those laws. Recruitment agencies only perfrom one of the above roles, do not sit in the organization they are sourcing for, and if they do (as such is the new evolving model) they are STILL not employees of this business, nor are they managers to any of the permanent associates they bring in. So there is still a big need for HR divisions out there and they do an extremely important job. There is no reason that it cannot be an interesting and enjoyable job – afterall, we are still individuals and will express ourselves differently and should have the skills to perfrom our role and suit it to our ‘clients’ needs – The Business. I love my job and the sexy little power suits that go with it!
Cars and houses are quite expensive and not everybody is able to buy it. However, mortgage loans are invented to support people in such kind of cases.