Congratulations to Dan Gignac, CHRP at Aecon who won our prize draw at the HRPA conference and trade show!

Dan’s business card was randomly selected (via the scientific method of reaching my hand into a glass bowl, eyes closed and no peeking!) among dozens of entries from visitors to the Career Edge Organization booth.

The prize includes two HR-related books, “Loyalty, unplugged” by Adwoa K. Buahene and Giselle Kovary, and “Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees” by Lionel Laroche, Ph.D and Don Rutherford, as well as some Career Edge Organization collateral (pens, etc.).

For our latest quarterly e-Newsletter, CareerBulletin, employment branding experts, Tamm, contributed an article on becoming an employer-of-choice.

Ciabh McEvenue, Managing Director at Tamm, provides some great tips including:

1. Know who you are – storytelling is key, according to Ciabh, who encourages employers to come out of hiding from “behind a veneer of business language,” and show personality.

2. Engage your talent – who better to tell your story than your own people? Ciabh (pronounced “Keeve,” by the way) points out that when your own people are recruiting or referring from within their personal and professional networks, engagement and retention go up.

3. Invest in tools – Ciabh lists an authentic employee value proposition, targeted marketing materials and memorable communications among recruiting tools that are a must in effective employer branding.

4. Speak up – Here, Ciabh encourages a good deployment strategy including:

• investing in advertising in relevant media
• motivating employee ambassadors
• optimizing your organizational website
• engaging in a meaningful, accessible way with your audience through events, social networking/media, and relevant professional forums

5. Keep at it – Commitment is key and Ciabh suggests identifying efficient, low-cost alternatives to traditional advertising to “keep your story circulating.”

Click here to read the full article. Thank you Tamm for this practical and well-written piece!

Talk to us!

What do you think makes an organization an “employer-of-choice”?

I came across an interesting article on the Charity Village website this morning, written by Tim Rutledge, Ph.D., a veteran human resources consultant and publisher.

It’s generally accepted in HR and employment worlds that, on average, only 30% of employees are “engaged.” So what about the other 70%?

Rutledge blames “the fish pond mentality” among other chronic workplace issues.

Many consultants trumpet the presence of such things as snack carts and fish ponds as reasons why a company is a great place to work. I have nothing against ponds or snacks, but they don’t lead to engagement. If my manager creates a disengaging environment, I can’t snack my way to engagement.

Agreed! Having said that, snacks are always a plus.

Click here to read the full article

Last week, Career Edge Organization conquered the Human Resources Professionals Association’s Annual Conference and Tradeshow – aka HRPA 20X.

We not only took up post at the tradeshow as an exhibitor, we also had eyes and ears in the conference. So if you couldn’t make it out this year, no worries! Let us fill you in.

Overview:

More than 3,500 business professionals attend the HRPA Conference and Tradeshow annually, making it Canada’s top HR event and one of the largest HR events in the world.

The event boasts 120+ workshops for professional development and over 250 exhibitors offering the latest and greatest in HR products, solutions and services. Attendees included everyone from HR students, to HR managers as well senior executives and business leaders. And, of course, we were there too!

Keynote highlights:

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“The best resumes are LinkedIn, You Tube…that’s where people are who they really are.”

Today at the 2010 HRPA conference, Mitch Joel, our afternoon keynote speaker, helped the audience of human resources professionals make the important connection between digital media and employer branding.

“Be open,” he told us. “We are moving towards an open world.”

Mitch Joel is probably the most influential man in Canada as far as social media goes – it’s no wonder they call him “the rock star of digital marketing.”

For those of us who work in this space, he is to e-marketing what someone like Jack Welch is to the business world – a real thought leader. So when he speaks, we listen.

It was interesting though to see and listen to him speak at the HRPA conference today because, even though a lot of us understand and embrace the concept that we are all connected by “6 pixels of separation” (and not through Kevin Bacon, as previously thought in the 90’s), some employers are still struggling to understand what impact, if any, all of this has on what they do.

A few entertaining examples quickly illustrated that Social Media is not a Fad. It is changing everything. If you’re in the business of people, then anything that impacts connectivity directly impacts you.

Mitch said it best today with the first of his 6 closing points: “Accept it!”

Instead of creating hard policies around banning the use of social media tools in the workplace, he encourages “guidelines” that will actually teach employees how to utilize them, empowering them to be ambassadors for your organization.

“This can really increase productivity, and the way people connect to your brand,” he assured us. “This is not a time suck!”

We at Career Edge Organization certainly agree.