Thursday, February 19, 2009
HRACI Monthly Meeting
How to Build a Great HR Team

Be sure to look for HRACI at the Indianapolis Diversity Career Fair
February 25, 2009
Time: 12:00pm - 4:30pm
Location: Indiana Convention Center, Hall E

Read on for details on these and other important HRACI activities!

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• We are looking at ways to contain costs, allowing HR Professionals as well as our Student HR chapter members to become and remain members when they need more than ever the networking, education and career networks we offer.
  
• Building our relationship with our student HR members is also vital during times when focusing on the future talent is paramount.
  
• We are embarking upon several initiatives to heighten our brand awareness as the credible source for HR content in our communities. You may have heard me talk about the exploration of our new branding campaign that Karen Seketa and her communications committee have undertaken. It is our goal to share the outcome of this work toward the end of our first quarter.

Submitted by: Brian Cox

Welcome to SHRM's HR Job Seeker Newsletter
We're in difficult economic times. Many find themselves in the job market -- often unexpectedly. Others are examining their careers for the first time in years. As the leading voice of the HR profession, SHRM offers many resources for HR professionals in search of career advice. SHRM's HR Jobs service is the leading source for HR jobs. As a SHRM member, registered HR Jobs candidate, we are sending you this free monthly newsletter with career information for HR professionals. If you do not wish to receive additional issues of free monthly newsletter, you can unsubscribe. (If you'd like to keep getting this newsletter, you don't need to take any further action.)

TIPS AND ADVICE
Networking in a Down Economy: More Important Than Ever
Although job searches are never easy, they are even more demanding in times like these, when the economy is in peril and companies are more likely to be scaling back than hiring. Networking can help you stand out from the ever-growing crowd.
• Read this article

It's Never Too Late for a Mentor
Today's HR professionals can benefit from the guidance of a wide array of mentors at all stages of career progression.
• Read this article

Interest in 'Encore Careers' Is Growing
When it comes time to refocus their careers, many HR professionals willingly trade in their "fast track" jobs for those that can provide a greater sense of fulfillment.
• Read this article

The Challenge for Executives: Maintaining Career Momentum
In a recession, consolidations and downsizing place any executive's career at risk. However, as a breed, executives are inculcated to hold the vision, protect and manage assets, think strategically and act courageously to advance their company. Applying these same behaviors to their own careers can carry them through rough times.
• Read this article

Twelve Steps to Changing Your Career in a Slow Economy
There's never a perfect time to seek a new career direction. If you've made the decision, act now, regardless of what's going on in the economy or in your job.
• Read this article

HR JOBS TIPS
Get the Most Out of HR Jobs
Does It Work in Text-Only?
That beautiful resume printed on the fancy paper looks great when you hand it to employers in person. But, does it look right when you upload it as a text-only file in HR Jobs or other services? In Word, save a copy of your resume as a text-only file, then re-open. Be on the lookout for mistranslated characters (for example, an apostrophe that becomes a question mark) or odd line breaks. Boldfacing and italics will be lost; consider using capital letters or asterisks instead.

Job Alerts
Set up a job alert to receive a daily e-mailed list of professional opportunities that match your search criteria. To start receiving alerts select the "Job Alert" tab in your SHRM's HR Jobs account, choose your search options and finally name your alert. Once your alert is active, you will receive alerts the day after jobs that match your search terms are posted. You can set up as many alerts as you want.

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Second:
If you are looking for a smaller, more specific audience, you are also welcome to submit articles, such as the one in this month’s newsletter by James Schaffer, for consideration for our monthly enewsletter. Please send your submission to Karen Seketa, Director of Communications for HRACI at kseketa@yahoo.com. You can send this at anytime and you will be contacted about next steps and publication timelines.

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Submitted by: Jim Schaffer, PhD
Professor of Leadership, Indiana Tech University
Owner Bernard James Management Consultants
James is a member of HRACI and a committee member for the Consultants Forum

5 Leadership Lessons from a New President Obama

The atmosphere has changed. Words like hope, change, and renewal are used every day on the airwaves, and not just by the supporters of our new President.
The campaign and early Presidency of Barack Obama have been different – and that’s an understatement -- his use of internet-based “social technologies” alone redefined political campaigning and the presidency. By studying these differences we can learn much. Here are five lessons that might impact the next steps for your Human Resources career.

1. Dare to be Different
There is little about Obama that resembles his 43 predecessors. In many ways he is an unlikely prospect for the position he now holds. Terms often used for these persons are “tempered radicals” or “outliers”. In fact there is a new best-selling book by that very title – Outliers: The Story of Success. It explains that most successful people challenge the status quo and practice “practical intelligence”. They stay abreast if not ahead of the trends that are sure to come. Like Facebook, YouTube, Google, and Microsoft before them all, discover how you can be different to add value to your “customers.”

2. Learn to Fail Faster
Not all went smoothly for the Obama campaign. In fact, he lost most of the primaries in the delegate-rich states. By the time you read this he may have made a major presidential blunder. For all our futures let’s hope not. But the key point is this: he and his group of advisors had a “bias for action” and quickly learned what didn’t work.

Consider following the lead of the CEO of Proctor & Gamble who when speaking on NPR explained that only about 20% of their new product offerings make it in the marketplace. The sooner they get their new products “out there”, the sooner they uncover that 20%. The sooner you try something, the sooner you’ll complete the trial-and-error cycle to discover what works and what doesn’t. Think about failing faster. A good needs assessment and pilot study always help.

3. Communicate a Disciplined Message and Manner
Excelling at the HR basics has always been important; yet the basics at which you must be disciplined have changed. Heeding the call for compliance, as we all know, is yesterdays discipline; today it’s all about adding measureable value, and thinking strategically, as long as your strategy is tethered to reality and not gamesmanship. In today’s uncertain times that’s a good place to focus your communication to your associates –- a message of reality encircled with hope. It all begins with a disciplined message and manner that focuses on and has faith in achievable business results.


4. Connect with Your Key Constituents
We all have more important and less important constituents. Part of Obama’s success has come from concentrating on those that were more important and winning them over. Your future success most likely will be based on similar actions. A good idea is to identify your top five constituents – be they individuals or groups – and ask them a simple question: “What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing right now?” Then move quickly to develop well researched alternative solutions. As Jeffrey Gitomer writes in his 2006 book The Little Black Book of Connections – always be the person to add value first.

5. Maximize Purpose
Economic uncertainty and its companion personal anxiety are repeatedly showing their faces on the evening news. Most all workers have slid down Maslow’s need hierarchy to put the concern for security squarely in the spotlight. Yet anyone who has listened to at least one talk on worker motivation knows that no one goes to work just for pay and benefits. Now more than ever people need a sense of purpose in their work and in their futures.

Most likely it’s not by accident that the opening presidential inaugural prayer was given by someone who penned a book titled The Purpose Driven Life. Now is a good time to remind your associates of the pride that comes with quality workmanship, to remind your leaders of your organization’s ideals, and to remind yourself of the greater purpose you serve as part of the HR profession. Go beyond operations, beyond tactics, and beyond strategy and work every day to rediscover and maximize purpose.

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Submitted by: Shawna Lake, SPHR

Volunteering Now to Support your Current Goals

• 73% of employers said they would employ a candidate with volunteering experience over one without.
• 58% say that voluntary work experience can actually be more valuable than experience gained in paid employment.
• 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.

Could volunteering within HRACI support your new year’s resolutions, your personal or career goals, or your career search? We currently have a wide variety of one-time and on-going opportunities. From the homepage, select the Volunteering tab or follow this link: http://www.hraci.org/HRACIvolunteering.htm to see specific, immediate needs. This will put you directly in touch with the contact person for each opportunity. Or, you can link to the interest form to tell us you’d like additional information on one or more committee or special interest group.

In addition to supporting the mission and goals of HRACI, you can personally gain from giving your time and talent. One of the least publicized benefits is networking. Someone you volunteer with could just be your next vendor, customer, employer, or recruit. If you’re currently in a job transition, did you know that up to 60% of job vacancies are not advertised and end up being filled internally or through networking.

For additional information or questions, you can also email volunteeropps@hraci.org.

Statistics from TimeBank.org

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Submitted by: Erin Brothers

Please join us for the annual HRACI Diversity Conference at Holiday Inn North at the Pyramids. We will have several great speakers, you won’t want to miss!

April 16, 2009

8-9am Registration, Vendors, Continental Breakfast

9-10am Breakout Session I- “Change is Here- Are you Ready?” Legal Update by Mitzi Martin, Baker and Daniels; SHRM Speaker- “The Business Case: Why Diversity and Inclusion are Good for Business”

10am-10:30am Vendors/Networking

10:30am-11:30am Breakout Session II- “Diversity is Here to Stay: Enhancing Cultural Competence” by Ken Durgans, Assistant Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at IUPUI; Economic Outlook by Michael Hicks, Director of Center for Business and Economic Research

11:30am-11:45am Vendors/Networking

11:45am Luncheon

12:15pm-1:15pm “And” Keynote Speaker- Quay Kester, PhD Evoke Communications

1:15pm-1:20pm Questions, Closing

Other Diversity Updates:

Director of Diversity Erin Brothers was recently quoted by Jessica Williams-Gibson in “Religious Equality in the Workplace.” Check out the latest edition of Indiana Minority Business Magazine for that story.

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Submitted by: Angie Ritz, PHR

Are you aware that HRACI has an Ambassador program? The goal of the Ambassador program is to help assimilate new members into the organization and ensure that each new member receives the most value possible from their HRACI membership. An Ambassador goes beyond just greeting and assisting members at HRACI meetings. The Ambassador will also make contact with a new member outside of the normal meeting venue. Contact frequency will be mutually determined. The Ambassador should be willing and able to spend some time with a new member in the first 1-3 months to answer questions, suggest resources within HRACI, and make the new member feel that they are a welcome addition to our organization. If you have been a member of HRACI for at least 6 months and would like to be an Ambassador or if you are a new member and would like to be connected with an Ambassador, contact Sue Bard at sue_bard@us.aflac.com or Cat Bates at Catherine.Bates@cort.com and they will get you the information.

HRACI’s referral program has been going on since October 2008 and already there have been 12 referrals! Remember that for each person you refer to join HRACI, you will receive a monetary reward that will be tracked throughout the year. For your first referral you will automatically receive a $10 Starbucks card. The incentive increases for each referral you receive. Your second referral will be $15, the third $25, the fourth $35 and the fifth will receive $50. Any referrals beyond 5 will be rewarded with an additional $5 for each referral. At the end of 2009, your referrals will be totaled and you will receive your reward in the form of an American Express card. Now is the time to spread the word about HRACI and its benefits!

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Submitted by: Susan Van Hoosen and Karen Seketa, SPHR

Thank you to all who attended our January HRACI luncheon program, “Online Social Networking – I’m on, now what?”

Shannon Seery-Gude of Bernard Hodes Group, presented an outstanding, interactive session, inspiring a full house of 141 registered attendees!

Participants learned how to increase their understanding of improving the experience on corporate career sites to connect with candidates and build candidate communities, and how to better attract and build relationships with potential candidates via social networking sites like FaceBook and LinkedIn. Also discussed were the changing expectations of the emerging workforce, how NOT to spam, how to complete your profile and how to leverage your corporate career site and next generation tools to build relationships. The moral of the online social networking story is “always be helpful and patient”!

Shannon is an avid user of social media and a self-prescribed “geek”. She loves the internet and insists that Facebook is NOT only for your kids. Here are some highlights from her discussion.

The Changing Workforce:

• Most people talk about the generational differences of the workforce, Shannon focused on the changes in technology and how they effect the changing workforce
• Everyone, across all generations is familiar with basic technology tools like Google, Amazon, eBay, etc. so technology touches all generations in some way.
• People are still influenced by friends, colleagues, family when making decisions
• “ Word of mouth” has changed with technology. Where we are being influenced has changed, but who we are being influenced by has not.
• The impact of the internet, Google and social networks on your corporate brand and on your personal reputation is very important to recognize
• Changing workforce tools include: Social networking sites, Career websites, Blogs/Podcasting, Photo sharing and video sharing

Why Social Networking?

• Exponentially expands your ability to link with others efficiently and effectively for a whole scope of purposes
• Deepens existing relationships
• Can be used to expand your personal brand
• Note: Consumer opinions posted online carry the second highest trust and credibility factor for decision makers
• Social Networking site examples: LinkedIn (27 million professionals with ave income of $109,000), Facebook (130 million active users), MySpace (100 million active users), Classmates (50 million registered users)
• Corporate attitudes toward social networking: 64% of companies in the US deny access to social networking sites and 54% of HR leaders have had to discipline employees on the use of these sites.
• Anticipate more policies coming out around this this year as it becomes a more acceptable networking and talent recruitment media for companies.

How to start:

• Create a profile, make it as complete as possible
• Search for and join related groups
• Invite your contacts to connect with you
• State your networking goal in your profile summary
• Make sure you read profiles before connecting with others, some people may not want to be contacted by recruiters.
• Be careful about what you write on social networks – others can see it and it can impact your personal brand
• Be patient, not everyone checks their sites daily
  

Three lucky winners won the drawing for the book “I’m on LinkedIn Now What???" By Jason Alba, compliments of SMA.

Check the HRACI website to access Shannon’s presentation and for date and location details for our April SMA program, “Economic Effects on Staffing Management & Recruitment – Strategies for Survival, Techniques to Manage and Thrive, Job Security and How to Shine!”

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Submitted by Jeremy York, PHR

HRACI is excited to announce a new ticketing program designed to save members money and time!

Now through the end of April, members can purchase tickets in bundles of four ($90) or six ($135); when bundled, each ticket costs $22.50 but has a face value of $25.

Members can use tickets to:

• Attend HRACI breakfasts and lunches (priced at $25)
• Help pay for HRACI half-day programs or other events that cost more than $25. Each ticket pays for $25 toward the cost of the program or event. (only 1 ticket per registration can be used)

By purchasing bundled tickets, members save 10 percent on admission to HRACI programs and events. They also reduce the amount of time spent writing checks or providing credit-card information. Payment becomes much easier!

To purchase bundled tickets visit www.HRACI.org and click on the “Events” tab.

Please note: All bundled tickets must be used in 2009, and HRACI will not refund any unused tickets. Also, bundled tickets cannot be used to pay for membership dues.

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Submitted by: Michael Padgett

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed into law The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The Act overturns the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. issued in 2007. In the controversial Ledbetter case, the Supreme Court held that the time limit for filing pay discrimination claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is measured from the date of the first allegedly discriminatory pay decision. The Act amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide that the charge-filing period (300 days in most states, including Indiana) would commence when the employee is affected by an application of a discriminatory compensation decision or practice (including each time wages are paid). In other words, the time period for filing a claim can be measured based on each successive pay period, rather than the original decision setting wage levels. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will result in employers losing a statute of limitations defense in many cases and breathe new life into old claims.

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Submitted by:Jennifer Lange, PHR

Do You Need to Register for HRACI’s PHR/SPHR Prep Class?

HRACI is now accepting registrations for the Spring 2009 PHR/SPHR Certification study group. There will be TWO LOCATIONS (each session will be limited to 25 participants) – one will be DOWNTOWN at the Indiana Business College (near the intersection of Washington and East Street) and one on the NORTHSIDE (specific location TBD).

LOCATIONS
Please note there is a limit of 25 registrants per location!

Downtown: The DOWNTOWN group will meet on TUESDAY evenings from 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm beginning on Tuesday, February 17th and ending on Tuesday, April 14th. The classes will meet at:

Indiana Business College
550 East Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204


Northside: The NORTHSIDE group will meet on WEDNESDAY evenings from 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm beginning on Wednesday, February 18th and ending on Wednesday, April 15th. The classes will meet at:

Standard Locknut
1045 East 169th Street
Westfield, IN 46074

FACILITATORS

The classes are facilitated by current PHR/SPHR HR Professionals who are assigned to each unit and they will be available to answer questions and/or give you insight as to what you can expect to
see on the exam.

MATERIALS

Again, this Spring we're going to be using the Human Resource Certification Program (HRCP) study materials (this is NOT the same as SHRM Learning System) which includes:

COST:

The cost for the nine (9) week class which includes HRCP study materials is:

Anyone who registers on February 9, 2009 of after will be charged a $50 late fee in addition to the amounts listed above.

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Lange, PHR at jennifer.lange@oldnational.com or at 317-706-9531.

EXAM INFORMATION

To register for the actual PHR or SPHR exam, please visit www.hrci.org and get registered!
NOTE – You need to register before March 13, 2009 to avoid paying a late fee!

EXAM ELIGIBILITY

To check eligibility requirements for the PHR or SPHR exam, please visit www.hrci.org

Click on the Certification tab > 2008 PHR/SPHR/GPHR Handbook > Applying for the Exam > Eligibility Requirements

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

NEW to HRCP, you can now take a 20 or 100 question practice test, with detailed feedback and explanations.

Please Let HRACI Know About Your PHR/SPHR/GPHR Certification

You can now notify HRACI of your PHR/SPHR/GPHR certification. Just go to www.hrci.org, Login and go to "My Online Profile" then click on the "Chapter Notification Link" and select "IN -- HR Assoc. of Central Indiana-0099" from the drop-down menu and then "Submit". Even if you have been certified for years, you should complete the chapter notification link to be sure that HRACI has accurate records of your accomplishment. Thank you for your cooperation!

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Isaac Burgeii
Stephen Terry
Zachary Wingerter
Tamika Wilson
Patricia Dierks
Christine Johnson
LaToya Davis
Portia Mason
Karen Hill
Nancy Duncan
Kurt Supe
Sarah Holland
Rebecca Arnott
Laurie Cobian
Judy Mason
Soffia Aranda-Ramirez
Allison Walradth
Erin Jennings

Mark Anderson
Bobbie Craft
Nichol Wilson
Erin Casselman
Donna Reynolds
Sheila Jones
Christina Bernard
Kristin Calvert
Jon Schausten
Lori Greene
April Diers
David Bouton
Nancy Roesler
Bart Anderson
Melinda Andrew
Kimberley Coleman
Julie Stoelting