From HR Toddler to Here and Now.

My first post in this series is written by Katherine Connolly. After I have approached Katherine about writing this guest post, it took her one day to get back to me with what I find as exceptionally good written post. This text shows little bit of Katherine’s sense of humour but mainly very positive attitude towards HR seen as more than just a job. 

Katherine is a founder of the HR consultancy firm called “Keeping HR Simple” where name of her company reveals also her mission statement to help small businesses understand HR with no jargon involved. Katherine is also CIPD member and her personal views on HR can be seen on her blog here. You can also follow Katherine on twitter @HR_Katherine.

Now see what Katherine has to say: 

Firstly, let me say that I’m not sure I’ve progressed much beyond the toddling stage.  If we’re talking about the 7 Ages of HR, I’m definitely in the infant stage, although I like to think that I don’t do much “mewling and puking”! 

I must say that I do like the analogy of being like a child when it comes to working in HR.  Here are just some of the reasons:

I can honestly say that I learn something new every day even if sometimes I have to unlearn everything I thought I knew. 

I try to be independent but often have to ask for help to do something.

I have learnt that there’s no shame in acknowledging that I don’t know how to do certain things.

Sometimes, I just want to sit down and have a little cry but I know that crying doesn’t solve anything!

For me, HR has always been a passion and I’m equally passionate about helping businesses to see beyond the legislation and to understand that when things are done properly, they can learn to engage with their employees for the benefit of the business. 

If I had one tip for anyone starting out in HR it would be to take things personally.  If your company or your client has to make redundancies, be upset about it.  If there is very little communication between management and staff, do what you can to change the culture.  If you can make it a better place to work, do it.  After all, if you don’t care and you don’t take things personally, you’re in the wrong job.    

Katherine Connolly

Are you HR professional thinking of giving something back and you don’t know where to start? Writing short story about your beginnings in HR can help a lot to other HR enthusiasts looking for inspiration, answers and strength. Email me at hrbeginner at gmail dot com or tweet me @HRbeginner. Eventually, if you are looking for becoming more active in helping other HR on their journey, I strongly suggest signing up at www.connectingHR.org. Among other exciting features you will also find a group set up for mentors. For those of you not knowing what connectingHR is, well there is nothing like this community out there being so vital and keen to engage in HR talks caring about each other and helping whenever possible.ConnectingHR website by itself is relatively new but don't get confused as the community exists for some time now on twitter and yammer.

While I myself have some journey on front of me before I start sharing my HR story, for now this blog is my way of “Giving Something Back”. What is Yours?

Mask is a Must. Or is it?

Inspired by Emma’s @onatrainagain post “We wear the mask”. Thank you Emma. 

As we grow up, we also learn that there is a good reason for changing our behaviour (mask) depending on situation we are in. I suppose, it is one of the talents of human race for which we can only be grateful for, as there is no way we will make it through without it. In the same body we are many different people with different missions to accomplish: to be a respected and inspirational leader at work, loving husband and dad at home, fun and supportive as a friend in the pub, or to be honest to ourselves…..

Masks - picture source

On one side it is quite obvious that the ability to switch between our masks makes us more or less skilled in what we do; successful; happy….?!? Nevertheless it is the same, switching between our masks what makes us exhausted, and making us to burn out.

How often we wish to bring our real "I" into conversation but being aware of potential damage we all back off (most of the time, anyway). Some might say that makes us civilised. Switching different modes throughout the day can also be seen as creative way of living our lives, where our personalities get a chance to exercise what they are best in. We all want a job which will be fun and fulfilling our expectations. While reality of our success is different we will always do our best to get closer and closer to our dream job (even if we don’t know what it is). 

Taking emotional labour such as costumers' facing staff as an example, there is a monotone list of dos and donts no matter what organisation you are in. And just to make it worse, every employer will tell you to leave your private life at home (although few are starting to realise that actually caring about people makes sense in the long run and that “H” in “HR” means something too). 

The point I am trying to make is that it is not the matter of our choice but rather survival technique which brings us to learn how to wear different masks in different situations. Going even more philosophical we could say that we are all trying to survive by wearing as many masks as necessary while praying for this being as few as possible.

So what is my ultimate goal? The ideal would be waking up as Peter, making business with others as Peter, meeting friends and family as Peter and most of all being appreciated by all for being no one else than Peter.

I know I should probably wake up now…right?

…..I am just saying.

I am asking then. Is Mask a Must? and How good are we actually in hiding our real "I"?

10 Reasons Why You Willl Never Miss the #TruLondon Unconference Ever Again.

1. You are involved either directly or indirectly in people resourcing and you do understand that social media is not only a trend which you can’t afford to ignore but also biggest database of many talented candidates who have exactly what it takes to fill your vacancy.

2. There is no way you can be closer to what is known as best of the best in the recruitment industry, and now I am talking people as well as instruments to make your profession ticking like no other.

3. While current trends are being thoroughly discussed, at #TruLondon New Trends are born. You don’t want to miss that, and you want to be part of it.

4. There is no way you will find another time and space filled with enthusiasts keen to share, learn and have a great time alongside of it.

5. You will meet and have chance to talk to, challenge and have a drink with some worldwide recognised analysts, leaders, entrepreneurs, recruitment and social media geeks and experts.

6. Innovation and creativity is valued largely as most current topics are being discussed.

7. You will see it all: what is shared perception throughout the industry and across the world, but also spot different opinions on issues which have always seemed to be obvious and beyond questioning.

8. At #truLondon you will understand why Social Media and HR are couple. And what a couple it is. They not only love each other, but also constantly complement each other and think of each other while making critical decisions.

9. Setup of the unconference allows its attendees to be creative and ask questions as well as offer opinion on any matter almost instantly without waiting for (as known at conferences) speaker to finish.

10. It is great fun to be there where you learn more as you play along.