Are HR Professionals ready for 2012?

2012 HR TRENDBOOK

In the December 2011 issue of HR Magazine, SHRM published their annual HR Trend Book for 2012. This book highlights the new trends in various HR disciplines such as benefits, staffing, compensation and incentives, HR technology, education, training and development and relocation. One thing that stood out for me while reading this report is that SHRM indicates a trend that HR professionals need to develop social media skills as there has been an increased hiring demand for social media knowledge in HR jobs.

As co-founder of myJoblinx, I’ve the opportunity to meet with many HR and Staffing professionals from startups to Fortune 100 companies to explore the use of our solution for their social recruiting needs. During these conversations, I’ve recognized that many of today’s HR professionals still rely heavily on their internal marketing or PR counterparts to manage social media activities. Many argue that HR professionals are late-adopters when it comes to anything technology related, including social media. But the popularity and the possibilities that social media have brought over the last couple of years have created amazing opportunities for HR professionals at all levels to take the lead in the strategic use of social media at their organizations.

Here are some examples of social media concepts that may be incorporated in various human resources disciplines.

Performance Management : Explore a solution like Rypple to incorporate continuous feedback, coaching and recognition to your performance dimensions during annual reviews by allowing your employees to connect and solicit input from their coworkers.

: Explore a solution like Rypple to incorporate continuous feedback, coaching and recognition to your performance dimensions during annual reviews by allowing your employees to connect and solicit input from their coworkers. Recognition: Take a look at a solution like O.C. Tanner to engage your workforce through “social recognition” by introducing a feature that allows real time feedback from coworkers to express their appreciation of great work or another solution like 7Geese that reinforces desired behavior with achievement “badges”.

Take a look at a solution like O.C. Tanner to engage your workforce through “social recognition” by introducing a feature that allows real time feedback from coworkers to express their appreciation of great work or another solution like 7Geese that reinforces desired behavior with achievement “badges”. Staffing : Extend your current corporate career website onto your Facebook Fan Page by using a solution like myJoblinx to showcase your employment brand, promote your company’s job opportunities and drive your employee referral process.

: Extend your current corporate career website onto your Facebook Fan Page by using a solution like myJoblinx to showcase your employment brand, promote your company’s job opportunities and drive your employee referral process. Team Collaboration : Adopt a solution like Yammer to let your employees to communicate, collaborate and share information with coworkers in a private, secure enterprise social network.

: Adopt a solution like Yammer to let your employees to communicate, collaborate and share information with coworkers in a private, secure enterprise social network. Training & Development: Have your employees create their own online Individual Development Plan which allows them to solicit input from coworkers on how to develop certain skills to perform their jobs or even recommend training.

These are just a few innovative and creative ideas that you can explore and leverage this powerful medium in many aspects of your organization. It is likely that the pace of change for social media will continue to accelerate. According to NAS Recruitment Communications, many companies are successfully using social media and marketing strategies to understand and engage their audiences. The HR professional of tomorrow will need to have these core “social media” skills and have the ability to advance along with the technology.

I believe these are exciting times for HR professionals to truly “think out of the box” and come up with new approaches for social media application to traditional HR processes. It is important for them (including myself) to think differently and help their organizations find competitive solutions to attract, retain and engage its workforce.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments and suggestions about HR and social media. Like us and join the conversation.